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PETROLEUM: 


PRODUCTION  AND  USE. 


BOVERTON   REDWOOD,   F.I.C.,  F.C.S. 


Abridged  from  the  Cantor  Lectures  before  the  Society  of  Arts, 
London. 


NEW  YOKE: 
D.  VAN  NOSTRAND,   PUBLISHER, 

23  MURRAY  AND  27  WARREN  STREETS. 

1887. 


O 


PREFACE. 


The  following  pages  have  been  re- 
printed from  the  Journal  of  the  Soci- 
ety of  Arts,  London,  with  the  omissions 
of  such  portions  as  would  seem  to  be 
of  little  or  no  interest  to  American  read- 
ers. The  petroleum  industry  occupies  a 
wide  field  in  this  country,  and  the  amount 
of  capital  invested  in  it  is  very  great,  and 
while,  therefore,  all  that  was  stated 
by  Mr.  Redwood  in  his  lectures  was  ad- 
mirable, and  doubtless  of  much  interest 
to  his  English  hearers,  very  much,  on  the 
other  hand,  would  prove  to  be  of  no 
material  value  to  the  American  reader. 
We  feel  on  the  whole,  however,  that  the 
subject  matter  of  these  lectures,  with  the 
exceptions  stated,  are  worth  preservation, 
and  believe  that  all  that  is  here  given  will 
be  found  to  be  of  interest  to  readers  here. 
It  has  been  deemed  better  to  change  the 
matter  from  the  lecture  form  in  which  it 
appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  Journal 
of  the  Society  of  Arts.  W.  H.  F. 


PETROLEUM  AND  ITS  PRODUCTS. 

CHAPTEK  I. 

In  the  United  States  petroleum  exists, 
saturating  strata  of  sand-rock.  When 
first  wells  were  drilled  in  America  noth- 
ing was  known  about  these  strata;  but 
ultimately,  in  the  valley  of  Oil  Creek,  the 
existence  of  three  well-defined  oil  sands 
was  ascertained.  These  oil  sands  in  the 
Oil  Creek  district  are  of  considerable 
regularity  as  regards  their  thickness  and 
the  intervening  distance  between  them, 
the  first  sand  being  40  feet  thick,  with  an 
interval  of  105  feet  between  it  and  the 
second  sand,  which  is  25  feet  thick ;  an 
interval  of  110  feet  occurring  between 
the  second  sand  and  the  third,  the  thick- 
ness of  the  latter  being  35  feefc.  In  some 
localities,  however,  the  second  sand  is 
split  into  two  well-defined  sands,  with 
from  15  feet  to  30  feet  of  slates  or  shales 
intervening,  and  this  has  given  rise  to 


the  definition  of  a  fourth  sand.  In  drilling 
on  high  ground  in  the  Oil  Creek  district, 
several  upper  sand  rocks  were  also  per- 
forated ;  these  were  termed  "  mountain 
sands."  In  addition  to  the  three  regular 
sands,  there  was  often  found,  about  15 
feet  to  20  feet  above  the  regular  third,  a 
fine-grained  muddy  gray  sand,  from  12 
feet  to  25  feet  thick ;  this  was  termed  the 
"  stray  third." 

The  Venango  oil  sand  group  is  de- 
scribed by  Mr.  Carll*  as  a  group  in  the 
strictest  sense  of  the  term,  having  a  well- 
defined  top  and  bottom,  and  consisting 
of  a  mass  of  sandstone  deposits  from  300 
to  380  feet  thick,  with  layers  of  pebbles 
and  many  local  partings  of  slate  and 
shale.  These  figures  may,  he  states,  be 
varied  somewhat,  but  it  will  be  found,  as 
a  general  rule,  that  a  thickness  of  350 
feet  will,  in  nearly  every  case,  embrace 
all  the  sands  belonging  to  the  Venango 
group,  even  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth 
sands,  as  the  lower  members  of  the  group 
in  some  localities  have  been  called.  The 

*  See  Penna.  Geological  Report— Second  Report. 


oil  is  principally  obtained  in  the  third 
sand. 

As  the  area  of  the  oil-producing  terri- 
tory was  extended,  it  was  found  that  the 
underlying  geological  formation  varied 
considerably,  the  sand-rock  disappearing, 
and  its  place  being  taken  by  shales  at  the 
same  geological  horizon. 

The  several  groups  of  oil-producing 
rocks  are,  as  Mr.  Carll  remarks,  locally 
well-defined  under  certain  areas ;  but 
they  have  their  geographical  as  well  as 
their  geological  limits,  and  as  far  as  is  at 
present  known,  the  geographical  limit  of 
one  group  never  overlaps  that  of  another. 
Hence,  it  must  not  be  presumed  that 
each  particular  sandstone  or  its  oil  will 
be  found  in  every  locality  where  its 
horizon  can  be  pierced  with  the  drill,  or 
that  a  measured  section  of  the  rocks  in 
one  place  can  be  precisely  duplicated  in 
detail  in  another.  Therefore  the  most 
skillful  oil-producer,  the  most  expert 
geologist,  cannot  tell  how  many  other  oil 
horizons  may  exist  at  intermediate  depths 
beneath  the  surface  (i.  e.,  in  the  scale  of 


8 


the  formation),  but  which  have,  as  yet, 
escaped  the  oil-miner's  drill. 

In  Western  Pennsylvania  the  sand- 
rock  varies  in  character  from  a  coarse- 
grained, uncemented  sandstone,  to  a 
pebble  conglomerate,  composed  of  coarse 
pebbles,  of  white,  or  slightly  colored 
opaque  quartz,  overlaid  by  marls  and 
slates,  often  highly  silicated,  forming 
very  hard  and  impervious  crusts.  This 
pebble  conglomerate  consists  of  two 
varieties,  occupying  separate  horizons,  in 
one  of  which  the  pebbles  are  nearly 
spherical,  and  in  the  other  flattened. 
Between  these  beds  of  sandstone  or  con- 
glomerate that  contain  the  oil  are  beds  of 
shale,  with  which  are  thin  beds  of  sand 
and  "shells."  These  shells  are  described 
by  Professor  Leslie  as  hard  crusts  of 
white  flint. 

Mr.  Peckharn*  remarks  that  petroleum 
is  found  in  the  principal  producing  terri- 
tories in  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
saturating  porous  strata,  and  overlying 
superficial  gravels ;  it  occurs  in  Canada 

*Tenth  Census  U.  S. 


and  West  Virginia  beneath  the  crowns  of 
anticlinals ;  while  in  Pennsylvania  it 
occurs  saturating  the  porous  portions  of 
formations  that  lie  far  beneath  the  influ- 
ence of  the  superficial  erosion,  like  sand- 
bars in  a  flowing  stream  or  detritus  on  a 
beach.  These  formations  or  deposits, 
taken  as  whole  members  of  the  geological 
series,  lie  conformably  with  the  inclosing 
rocks,  and  slope  gently  toward  the  south- 
west. The  Bradford  field  in  particular, 
says  Mr.  Peckham,  resembles  a  sheet  of 
coarse-grained  sandstone,  100  square 
miles  in  extent,  by  from  20  to  80  feet 
deep,  lying  with  its  southwestern  edge 
deepest,  and  submerged  in  salt  water, 
and  its  northeastern  edge  highest,  and 
filled  with  gas  under  an  extremely  high 
pressure. 

In  relation  to  the  geology  of  natural 
gas,  Mr.  Ashburner  points  out  that  the  oil 
and  gas  regions  of  Pennsylvania  are 
shown  by  the  strata  drilled  by  the  gas 
wells  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pittsburg 
to  be  one  in  a  geological  sense.  The 
general  conditions  upon  which  the  occur- 


10 

rence  of  natural  gas  seems  to  depend, 
from  a  consideration  of  the  facts  at 
present  at  our  command,  are  (a)  the 
porosity  and  homogeneousness  of  the 
sandstone  which  serves  as  a  reservoir  to 
hold  the  gas ;  ( b)  the  extent  to  which 
the  strata  above  or  below  the  gas- sand 
are  cracked ;  (c)  the  dip  of  the  gas-sand, 
and  the  position  of  the  anticlines  and 
synclines ;  (d)  the  relative  proportions  of 
water,  oil,  and  gas  contained  in  the  gas- 
sand  ;  and  (e)  the  pressure  under  which 
the  gas  exists  before  being  tapped. 
Other  conditions  may,  however,  as  Mr. 
Ashburner  remarks,  be  still  discovered, 
which  will  have  as  important  a  bearing 
upon  the  problem  as  those  which  have 
been  stated. 

Vasilieff,  who  published  an  article  on 
the  "  Oil  Wells  of  Baku,''  in  the  Russian 
Mining  Journal,  for  September  last,  an 
abstract  of  which,  by  William  Anderson, 
has  recently  appeared  in  the  Minutes  of 
the  Proceedings  of  the  Institution  of 
Civil  Engineers,  states  that  the  petroleum 
bearing  strata  of  the  Caucasus  belong  to 


11 

the  lower  miocene  series  of  the  tertiary 
epoch,  the  deposits  extending  in  a  N.E. 
to  S.W.  direction,  and  the  dip  ranging 
apparently  between  20°  and  40°.  The 
petroleum-bearing  beds  are  composed  of 
sand,  calcareous  clays,  marls,  and  in 
places,  compact  sandstone,  often  of  great 
thickness,  penetrated  by  bands  of  pyrites. 
The  number  of  oil-bearing  strata  is  un- 
known, but  three  oil- sands  have,  up  to 
the  present  time,  been  defined. 

Petroleum  is  generally  considered  to  ^ 
have  resulted  from  the  slow  decomposi- 
tion of  vegetable  or  animal  matter,  either 
in  the  rocks  in  which  it  is  found,  or  in 
underlying  strata.  Berthelot,  however, 
in  1866,  propounded  the  theory  that  pe- 
troleum was  formed  by  the  action  of 
carbonic  acid  and  steam  on  the  alkali 
metals ;  and  in  the  following  year  Men- 
delejeff,  in  a  celebrated  essay,  read  before 
the  Chemical  Society  of  St.  Petersburg, 
and  subsequently  published  in  the  Revue 
Scientifique,  gave  in  detail  his  reasons  for 
believing  petroleum  to  be  the  product  of 
the  action  of  water  upon  iron  or  other 


12 

metal,  and  carbon,  at  a  high  temperature 
and  under  great  pressure. 

The  view  that  petroleum  is  indigenous 
to  the  rocks  in  which  it  is  found  has  been 
strongly  supported  by  Dr.  Hunt  and 
Professor  Leslie.  Mr.  Peckham,  after  a 
prefatory  remark  that  his  studies,  extend- 
ing over  twenty  years,  have  led  him  to 
the  conclusion  that,  as  yet,  very  little  is 
known  regarding  the  chemical  geology  of 
petroleum,  expresses  the  opinion  that  all 
bitumens,  from  the  solid  to  the  gaseous, 
have,  in  their  present  condition,  originally 
been  derived  from  animal  or  vegetable 
remains,  but  that  the  manner  of  their 
derivation  has  not  been  uniform.  Re- 
ferring to  the  hypothesis  that  petroleum 
is  indigenous  in  the  rocks  in  which  it  is 
found,  and  to  that  which  regards  all 
bitumens  as  distillates,  he  remarks  that 
there  remains  the  modifying  fact  that 
there  are  four  kinds  of  bitumen : — 

1.  Those  bitumens  that  form  asphaltum 
and  do  not  contain  paraffine. 

2.  Those   bitumens  that  do  not  form 
asphaltum  and  contain  paraffine. 


13 

3.  Those  bitumens  that  form  asphaltum 
and  contain  paraffine. 

4.  Solid  bitumens  that  were  originally 
solid  when  cold  or  at  ordinary  tempera- 
tures. 

The  first  class  includes  the  bitumens 
of  California  and  Texas,  doubtless  indi- 
genous in  the  States  in  which  they  are 
found;  and  probably  also  some  of  the 
bitumens  of  Asia. 

Too  little  is  known,  Mr.  Peckham  adds, 
about  petroleum  at  the  present  time  to 
enable  any  one  to  explain  all  the  phe- 
nomena on  any  hypothesis,  but  it  seems 
to  him  that  the  varieties  of  petroleum 
found  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
and  West  Virginia  are  distinctly  of  vege- 
table origin,  and  are  the  product  of  frac- 
tional distillation,  as  shown  by  the  large 
amount  of  paraffine  in  the  Bradford  oil, 
under  the  enormous  pressure  to  which 
it  is  subjected ;  while  the  Kentucky 
and  Californian  oils  are  evidently  of 
animal  origin,  and  have  not  been  sub- 
jected to  distillation.  It  is  not,  he  con- 
siders, the  effects  of  heat  as  represented 


14 

by  volcanic  action  that  have  produced  the 
petroleum,  but  rather  the  effects  of  slow 
and  gentle  changes  at  low  temperatures, 
due  to  metamorphic  action  upon  strata 
buried  at  immense  depth.  Regarding 
the  nature  of  the  metamorphic  action,  he 
states  that  it  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose 
to  know  that  from  the  upper  silurian  to 
the  close  of  the  carboniferous  periods, 
the  currents  of  the  primeval  ocean  were 
transporting  sediment  from  northeast  to 
southwest,  sorting  them  into  gravel,  sand, 
and  clay,  forming  gravel  bars  and  great 
sand  beds  beneath  the  riffles  and  clay 
banks,  in  still  water,  burying  vast  accu- 
mulations of  seaweeds  and  sea  animals 
far  beneath  the  surface.  The  alteration 
due  to  the  combined  action  of  heat, 
steam,  and  pressure,  that  resulted  in  the 
formation  of  the  Appalachian  system, 
from  Point  Gaspe,  in  Canada,  to  Lookout 
Mountain  in  Tennessee,  involving  the 
carboniferous  and  earlier  strata,  distort- 
ing and  folding  them,  and  converting  the 
coal  into  anthracite,  and  the  clays  into 
crystalline  schists  along  their  eastern 


15 


border,  could  not  have  ceased  to  act 
westward  along  an  arbitrary  line,  but 
must  have  gradually  died  farther  and 
farther  from  the  surface.  The  great 
beds  of  slate  and  limestone  containing 
fucoids,  animal  remains,  and  even  indi- 
genous petroleum,  must  have  been  in- 
vaded by  this  heat  action  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  and  thus,  in  accordance 
with  the  theory  of  Professor  Leslie,  a 
chronic  evaporation  or  distillation  of  the 
whole  mass  of  oil  in  the  crust  of  the 
earth  (within  reasonable  reach  of  the  sur- 
face) has  been  going  on,  converting  the 
animal  and  plant  remains  into  oils,  the 
light  oils  into  heavy  oils,  the  heavy  oils 
into  asphalte  and  albertite  ;  the  process 
being  accompanied  with  the  liberation  of 
gas.  Dealing,  in  connection  with  this 
theory,  with  the  objection  of  those  who, 
supporting  Berthelot's  and  MendelejefFs 
views,  point  out  that  there  is  no  evidence 
of  the  action  of  heat  upon  the  rocks  hold- 
ing the  oil,  and  no  residues  of  fixed  car- 
bon, Mr.  Peckham  replies  that  we  must 
seek  the  evidences  of  heat  action  at  a 


16 

depth  far  below  the  unaltered  rocks  in 
which  the  petroleum  is  now  stored.  If 
petroleum,  he  adds,  is  the  product  of  a 
"purely  chemical  process,"  we  should 
not  expect  to  find  paleozoic  petroleums 
of  a  character  corresponding  with  the 
simple  animal  and  vegetable  organisms 
that  flourished  at  that  period,  and  tertiary 
petroleums  containing  nitrogen,  unstable 
and  corresponding  with  the  decomposi- 
tion products  of  more  highly  organized 
beings,  but  we  should  expect  to  find  a 
general  uniformity  in  the  character  of  the 
substance,  wherever  found,  all  over  the 
earth. 

The  subject,  while  one  of  speculation, 
is  one  that  obviously  is  of  practical  im- 
portance, as  affecting  the  sources  and 
duration  of  supplies  of  petroleum,  its 
profitable  development,  and  commercial 
permanence. 

Petroleum  occurs,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
all  forms,  from  the  gaseous  to  the  solid. 
In  its  liquid  form  it  varies  greatly  in 
physical  properties,  as  well  as  in  chemical- 
composition,  and  in  regard  to  the  propor- 


17 


tion  of  the  different  commercial  products 
yielded  on  distillation. 

Dr.  Kriimer  gives  *780  and  -970  as  the 
extreme  limits  of  variation  in  the  specific 
gravity  of  liquid  petroleum ;  and  in  illus- 
tration of  the  well-known  fact  that  con- 
tiguous wells  often  yield  oils  of  very 
different  quality,  instances  the  case  of  two 
wells  in  the  Oelheim  district,  of  the  same 
depth,  and  within  two  meters  of  each 
other,  one  of  which  yields  an  oil  of  sp.  gr. 
•880,  and  the  other  an  oil  of  sp.  gr.  -905. 

The  material  known  as  "ozokerit," 
large  quantities  of  which  are  exported 
from  Galicia,  may  be  described  as  native 
paraffine  wax.  Immense  deposits  of  a 
similar  material  are,  as  I  have  said,  stated 
to  exist  in  the  island  of  Tcheleken,  on  the 
Trans-Caspian  coast.  In  Boryslaw  and 
Stanislaw  (Galicia)  the  ozokerit  occurs 
partly  in  beds  and  partly  in  pockets  in 
the  miocene  formation,  and  is  obtained 
in  small  pieces  or  in  masses  of  several 
hundred  pounds  weight. 

Crude  petroleum,  in  the  liquid  form, 
consists  almost  entirely  of  carbon  and 


18 


hydrogen,  usually  in  the  proportion  of 
about  85  per  cent,  of  the  former  to  15 
per  cent,  of  the  latter,  but  there  are  also 
sometimes  present  in  small  quantity 
oxygen,  nitrogen  and  sulphur. 

Reichenbach  examined  paraffine  in 
1824,  and  rock  oil  ten  years  later.  Early 
attempts  to  determine  the  composition  of 
petroleum  were  also  made  by  Laurent. 
In  1857,  De  La  Eue  and  Miiller  described 
the  products  they  had  obtained  from 
Rangoon  petroleum.  In  1863,  Schorlem- 
mer  isolated  some  of  the  constituents  of 
American  petroleum,  and  about  the  same 
time  Pelouze  and  Cahours  succeeded  in 
separating  from  this  oil  twelve  distinct 
hydrocarbons,  which  were  found  to  be 
homologues  of  marsh  gas  (CH4),  and  of 
which  the  general  formula  is  Cu  H2H  +  2. 

Of  the  more  volatile  hydrocarbons, 
viz.,  those  boiling  between  0°  C.  and 
130°  C.  there  have  been  shown  to  be  two 
series  present,  those  of  the  first  series 
which  have  the  higher  boiling  points 
being  normal,  while  those  of  the  second 
agree  for  the  most  part  in  boiling  point 


19 


with  the  corresponding  synthetically  pre- 
pared iso-paraffines.  There  are  grounds 
for  belief  in  the  occurrence  of  a  third 
series  of  paraffines  in  the  fraction  re- 
ferred to.  From  the  crude  oil,  as  it 
issues  from  the  earth,  methane,  ethane, 
and  propane  are  given  off  in  gaseous 
form,  so  that  from  American  petroleum 
the  paraffines  referred  to  have  been  sepa- 
rated. 

Methane  is  a  colorless  inodorous  gas, 
burning  with  a  yellow  flame  of  little 
luminosity.  Ethane  is  also  a  colorless, 
odorless  gas.  Propane  liqeufies  at  —20° 
C.  Normal  butane  condenses  at  0°  C.  to 
a  liquid,  boiling  at  1°  C.,  which  consti- 
tutes the  greater  part  of  the  petroleum 
product  known  as  "  cymogene."  Normal 
pentane  occurs  with  iso-pentane  in  the 
most  volatile  portion  of  petroleum  spirit. 
Hexane,  heptane,  octane,  and  certain  of 
their  isomers  constitute  the  greater  part 
of  the  liquid  known  as  "  benzoline." 

The  less  volatile  portions  of  American 
crude  petroleum,  boiling  above  260°  C., 
contain  paraffines  of  still  higher  order, 


20 

those  containing  20  per  cent,  of  carbon 
atoms,  or  more,  being  crystalline  solids. 
There  are  also  present  hydrocarbons  of 
the  OwHan  series,  which,  however,  accord- 
ing to  Markownikow,  who  terms  them 
naphthenes,  differ  from  the  olefmes.  Dr. 
Kramer,  who  has  exhaustively  examined 
three  varieties  of  German  petroleum,  in- 
clines to  the  belief  that  the  so-called 
naphthenes  are  mixtures  of  paraffinoid 
and  benzenoid  hydrocarbons. 

From  the  least  volatile  portion  of 
American  crude  petroleum  a  peculiar 
solid  crystalline  hydrocarbon  was  sepa- 
rated by  Morton  in  1873.  To  this  hydro- 
carbon, which  in  its  reactions  resembled 
impure  anthracene,  the  name  of  "thallene" 
was  given.  Morton  subsequently  found 
that  the  spectrum  of  "  thallene  "  differed 
from  that  of  impure  anthracene.  This 
product  was  subsequently  examined  by 
Prunier ;  and  more  recentty  by  Dr. 
Divers  and  Mr.  Nakamura,  who  have  iso- 
lated a  body  of  the  formula  C4H3)n  boil- 
ing between  280°  and  285°  C. 

In  1875,  Hell  and  Meidinger  obtained 


f/Y 

HTJNIVE 
21  N^ 

from  Wallachian  petroleum  an  acid,  form- 
ing alkali  salts  resembling  soft  soap. 
The  analysis  of  the  acid,  the  ether,  and 
the  silver  salt,  agreed  best  with  the  for- 
mula Cn  Hao  O2.  These  chemists  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  heavy  Walla- 
chian petroleum  contains  a  series  of 
probably  homologous  acids.  Markowni- 
kow  has  found  in  a  fraction  of  Russian 
petroleum,  boiling  between  220°  and  230° 
C.  as  much  as  5.25  per  cent,  of  oxygen. 
This  chemist,  continuing  the  research  of 
Hell  and  Meidinger,  ascertained  the  oc- 
currence also  of  bodies  of  a  phenoloid 
character.  Dr.  Kramer  has  recently  ex- 
amined the  oxygenated  bodies  present  in 
German  petroleum. 

Caucasian  petroleum  has,  during  the 
past  few  years,  been  the  subject  of  much 
research  at  the  hands  of  several  chemists, 
among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Mar- 
kownikow  and  Oglobine,  and  it  has  been 
shown  that  this  material  is  altogether  dif- 
ferent in  composition  from  American 
petroleum,  and  that  it  consists  for  the 
most  part  of  hydrocarbons  of  the  CJEEan 


22 


series,|isomeric  both  with  the  defines,  or 
true  homologues  of  ethylene,  and  with 
the  hexhydrides  of  the  benzines.  The 
hydrocarbons  in  question  exhibit  the 
closest  resemblance  to  the  paraffines,  but 
are  of  higher  density  than  their  iso- 
logues.  They  are  attacked  by  chlorine 
yielding  chlorinated  derivatives  ;  but  on 
oxidation  are  completely  destroyed,  with- 
out furnishing  characteristic  products. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  the  hydrocar- 
bons of  this  group,  which  have  been  sep- 
arated from  Caucasian  petroleum  : 

Boiling  point. 

C8  H16   119°C.      A. 

C9  H18   136° 

C10H20   101° 

C^H^ 180° 

C12H24 196° 

C14H28   240° 

;        C16H80   247J 

Ethylene  (C2H4),  which  appears  to  be 
the  lowest  member  of  the  series  of  ole- 
fines  capable  of  existing  in  the  separate 
state,  is  at  ordinary  temperatures  and 
pressures  a  colorless  gas,  burning  with 
a  luminous  white  flame. 

Hydrocarbons  of  the  aromatic  (CnH2W 
—  6)  series  are  also  found  in  petroleum. 


Pawlewski  reports  that  a  volatile  pro- 
duct of  the  distillation  of  Galician  petro- 
leum, examined  by  him,  contained  as 
much  as  4.9  per  cent,  of  hydrocarbons  of 
this  group. 

The  burning  oil  obtained  from  Ameri- 
can petroleum  contains  a  considerable 
proportion  of  olefines  produced  from  the 
paraffines. 

The  following  tabular  statement  is 
based  upon  the  analyses  of  natural  gas 
made  by  Mr.  Carnegie  at  his  works  near 
Pittsburgh,  and  quoted  by  Professor  De- 
war: 

COMPOSITION  OF  Six  SAMPLES  OF  NATURAL 
GAS. 


1. 

2. 

3. 

\ 
4.       5. 

6. 

Per 

Per 

Per 

Per    Per 

Per 

cent. 

cent  . 

cent.  cent.  cent. 

cent. 

Marsh  Gas 72  1865.2560.70j49.5857.85i75.16 


Ethylic  hydride  

3  6 

5  5 

7  92 

12  30 

5  20 

4  g 

Oletiant  Gas  
Oxygen  .                    ... 

.7 
1  i 

.8 
8 

.98 
78 

0 

.8 
2  1 

.6 
1  2 

Nitrogen  

Till 

nil 

nil 

nil 

23  41 

2  8( 

Carbonic  Acid 

8 

6 

nil 

4 

nil 

3 

Carbonic  Oxide  

1.0 

.8 

.58 

!4 

1.0 

.6 

The  co-efficient  of  expansion  of  crude 
petroleum  varies  according  to  the  pro- 
portion of  the  more  volatile  hydrocarbons 
present,'  as  is  shown  in  the  following 
table : 


Sp.  Gr.  at  15°  C.  for  1°  G;. 

Under  .700 00090 

.700  to  .750 00085 

.750  to  .800 00080 

.800  to  .815 00070 

.      Over     .815 00065 

The  rate  of  expansion  has  also  been 
found  to  vary  according  to  the  tempera- 
ture. 

In  practice  it  is  customary  to  add  to  or 
subtract  from  the  observed  specific  grav- 
ity .004  for  every  10°  F.  above  or  below 
60°  F.,  and  this  is  found  to  afford  a  suffi- 
ciently close  approximation  to  the  truth 
for  all  commercial  purposes  in  the  case 
of  all  the  ordinary  petroleum  products. 

Tables  for  calculating  the  alterations 
in  volume  of  crude  petroleum  with  accu- 
racy, are  in  use  in  America.  These  tables 
were  constructed  on  Gay  Lussac's  for- 
mula : 


25 


\  +  kt_~P—  p 
1+ar"    P 

where  P= weight  of  fluid  before  heating 

it; 

p= weight  of  the  fluid  after  heating, 
and  after  the  apparent  expan- 
sion has  been  removed ; 
t= change  of  temperature  ; 
k= co- efficient  of  expansion  of  the 


a = co-efficient  of  expansion  of  the 
fluid. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Every  oil  well  is  naturally  divisible  into 
three  sections,  viz.,  (1)  surface  clays  and 
gravels,  (2)  stratified  rocks  containing 
more  or  less  water,  (3)  stratified  rocks, 
seldom  water-bearing,  including  the  oil 
sands.  The  first  division  requires  a 
conductor  ;  and  the  second  division 
requires  casing  to  shut  off  the  water 
from  the  third  section.  The  earlier 
method  of  excluding  the  water,  by 


26 


placing  a  seed-bag  round  the  tubing 
was  found  unsatisfactory,  as  the  tubing 
could  not  be  removed  for  repairs  without 
disturbing  the  seed  bag,  and  letting 
water  into  the  well.  In  1868  cast-iron 
drive  pipe  was  adopted  as  a  substitute 
for  the  wooden  conductor  used  in  the 
earlier  wells.  The  most  important  alter- 
ation made  in  1868  was,  however,  the  in- 
troduction of  3J-inch  casing  as  a  perma- 
nent fixture.  This  casing  extended  to 
the  bottom  of  the  water-bearing  rocks, 
and  was  furnished  either  with  the  seed 
bag  or  with  a  leather  cup,  which  was 
forced  open  against  the  sides  of  the  well 
by  a  pressure  of  the  water.  The  tubing  of 
2f  -inch  external  diameter  and  extending 
nearly  to  the  bottom  of  the  well  was  then 
placed  inside  and  suspended  from  the 
casing.  To  obtain  a  supply  of  water  for 
the  boiler  a  small  pipe  was  often  inserted 
between  the  tubing  and  the  casing  into 
the  water  chamber  above  the  seed-bag. 
Although  the  1868  well  was  a  great  im- 
provement on  the  earlier  wells,  it  pos- 
sessed defects.  Thus  the  casing  being 


27 


S^-inches  internal  diameter,  while  the  un- 
cased part  below  it  was  5£  inches,  fishing 
tools  could  not  be  easily  introduced,  and 
if  it  became  necessary  to  deepen  the  well 
only  3^-inch  bits  could  be  used.  The 
improvements  which  followed  are  best 
exemplified  by  describing  one  of  the  wells 
of  1878.  This  well  has  an  8-inch  wrought 
iron  drive  pipe,  armed  at  the  bottom  with 
a  steel  shoe.  The  pipe  is  driven  down  to 
the  bed  rock,  and  an  8 -inch,  or  strictly 
speaking,  7J-inch  hole  is  drilled  to  the 
base  of  the  water-bearing  strata.  At 
this  point,  the  bore  is  gradually 
reduced  to  5£  inches  and  there  a  bevel 
shoulder  is  made ;  5^-inch  casing,  pro- 
vided at  the  lower  end  with  a  collar  to  fit 
the  beveled  shoulder,  is  then  inserted 
and  a  sufficiently  water-tight  joint  is  thus 
made.  Drilling  with  5 J  -inch  bits  is  then 
continued  until  the  required  depth  has 
been  reached.  When  gas  is  obtained  in 
sufficient  quantity  to  furnish  fuel  for  the 
boiler  it  is  conveyed  through  a  2-inch 
pipe  connected  with  the  casing  beneath 
the  derrick  floor,and  passing  into  the  door 


28 


of  the  furnace.  A  J-inch  steam  pipe,  fit- 
ted with  an  elbow,  and  ^-inch  jet  is  in- 
serted in  the  gas  pipe  close  to  the  fire 
box,  and  a  blast  of  steam  is  thus  caused 
to  issue  with  the  gas.  The  apparatus  acts 
as  an  exhauster,  drawing  the  gas  from 
the  well,  and  preventing  the  flame  from 
running  back.  The  cost  of  a  well  in  the 
Bradford  field  in  1871  was  about  $3,000. 
The  "  water- packer,"  introduced  in 
1875,  is  a  device  to  prevent  water  that 
may  pass  into  a  well  below  the  casing 
from  gaming  access  to  the  oil- sand,  and 
to  stop  the  ascent  of  gas  on  the  outside 
of  the  tubing.  It  is  applied  round  the 
tubing  at  any  desired  point,  and  its  effect 
is  to  shut  off  all  communication  between 
the  annular  space  outside  the  tubing 
above  it  and  the  oil  chamber  below.  The 
oil  and  gas  are  thus  confined  in  the  well 
chamber,  and  many  wells  are  thus  caused 
to  flow  that  would  otherwise  require 
pumping.  Under  these  circumstances 
the  flow  is  intermittent,  taking  place 
when  sufficient  gas-pressure  has  accumu- 
lated. There  are  many  forms  of  water. 


29 

packer,  but  one  of  the  simplest  consists 
of  a  band  of  india-rubber,  which,  on  com- 
pression, is  forced  against  the  walls  of 
the  well.  If  the  well  does  not  flow,  the 
oil  requires  to  be  raised  to  the  surface  by 
a  pump.  The  working  barrel  of  the 
pump  is  placed  at  the  bottom  of  the  well 
on  the  end  of  the  tubing,  a  perforated 
piece  of  casing  of  proper  length,  termed 
the  "  anchor,''  being  attached  to  the  lower 
end  of  the  working  barrel.  To  the  sucker 
of  the  pump  the  required  number  of 
wooden  sucker  rods,  screwed  together, 
are  attached,  the  upper  end  of  the  string 
of  rods  being  connected  with  the  walking 
beam.  There  is,  of  course,  a  valve  at  the 
bottom  of  the  working  barrel,  and  in  the 
sucker.  The  sucker  is  provided  with  a 
series  of  three  or  four  leather  cups,  which 
are  pressed  against  the  working  barrel 
by  the  weight  of  the  column  of  oil.  The 
sucker  rods  are  of  ash,  1£  inches  in 
diameter  by  24  feet  to  28  feet  in  length. 
When  a  number  of  contiguous  wells  are 
to  be  pumped,  an  arrangement  termed  a 
"  grasshopper "  apparatus  is  employed. 


30 


By  this  means  several  wells  can  be 
pumped  by  the  action  of  a  single  walking 
beam. 

Most  petroleum  wells  in  the  United 
States  are  "torpedoed"  on  the  completion 
of  the  drilling,  in  order  to  increase  the 
flow  of  oil.  The  torpedo  is  a  charge  of 
nitro-glycerine  in  a  suitable  shell,  which 
is  lowered  to  the  oil-bearing  rock,  and 
there  exploded,  with  the  effect  of  open- 
ing fissures  into  the  surrounding  rock. 
The  shells,  which  are  of  tin  plate,  are  of 
two  kinds.  One  form  is  lowered  to  the 
bottom  of  the  well  by  a  string  that  can 
be  easily  detached  and  rests  on  what  is 
termed  an  "  anchor,"  which  is  simply  a 
cylindrical  tin  tube  of  such  length  as  will 
bring  the  torpedo  to  the  required  posi- 
tion. To  the  upper  end  of  the  shell  is 
fitted  a  "firing  head"  consisting  of  a 
circular  plate  of  iron,  only  slightly  smaller 
than  the  bore  of  the  well,  having  pro- 
jecting vertically  downwards  from  its 
lower  surface  a  rod  on  which  a  percus- 
sion cap  is  placed.  Beneath  the  cap  is 
an  anvil.  The  lowering  cord  having  been 


31 

detached  and  drawn  up,  a  cast-iron  weight, 
termed  a  "  go-devil,"  is  dropped  into  the 
well,  and  this  weight  striking  the  disc  ex- 
plodes the  percussion  cap  and  fires  the 
torpedo.  The  other  form  of  shell  is  sus- 
pended by  a  cord,  which  serves  as  a 
guide  for  a  perforated  weight  running 
on  it.  The  usual  size  of  the  former 
description  of  shell  is  3^  inches  diameter 
by  10  feet  in  length,  a  shell  of  these  di- 
mensions holding  twenty  quarts  of  nitro- 
glycerine. Frequently  as  large  a  charge 
as  eighty  quarts  is  used,  and  it  is  then 
usual  to  employ  four  shells  of  the  dimen- 
sions given,  the  lower  end  of  one  fitting 
into  the  upper  end  of  another,  and  only 
the  top  shell  of  the  series  having  the 
firing  head.  Shells  of  the  other  descrip- 
tion are  commonly  termed  squibs.  They 
are  of  much  smaller  dimensions,  holding 
only  about  a  quart  of  the  explosive 
liquid,  and  are  now  generally  used  to  bring 
about  the  explosion  of  the  large  torpedo. 
I  extract  the  following  from  the  Petro- 
leum Age  for  last  August : — 

"There   are  nine   glycerine    firms   at 


32 


work  in  the  Bradford  field,  and  all  their 
men  are  kept  busy  from  morning  till 
night.  The  size  of  the  shot  used  is 
rarely  less  than  eighty  quarts.  The  con- 
stant enlargement  of  the  cavity  in  the 
oil-bearing  rocks  necessitates  the  use  of 
dynamite  squibs  for  exploding  the  shells, 
and  the  old  method  of  dropping  a  *  go- 
devil  '  on  the  firing-head  of  the  torpedo 
has  been  almost  entirely  superseded. 
The  cans  in  which  the  nitro-glycerine  is 
transported  about  the  field  have  been  en- 
larged from  six  to  eight  quarts  capacity, 
and  each  shooter's  wagon  carries  ten 
cans,  or  eighty  quarts  of  the  powerful 
explosive.  It  is  estimated  that  over 
eight  tons  of  glycerine  were  used  in  the 
Bradford  field  during  the  month  of 
July." 

The  torpedo  is  usually  exploded 
under  about  50  feet  of  water.  Little 
or  no  sound  is  heard,  but  a  slight 
quiver  of  the  ground  is  often  perceptible. 
A  few  moments  after  the  explosion,  how- 
ever, the  fluid  in  the  well  is  shot  into  the 
air  with  great  violence,  forming  a  mag- 


33 


nificent  fountain,  and  small  pieces  of 
rock  are  also  thrown  out.  The  torpedo 
and  exploding  weight  are  blown  into 
small  fragments.  A  few  minutes  later 
the  well  begins  to  flow,  but  there  is 
usually  a  sufficient  interval  to  admit  of 
the  casing  being  connected  with  a  tank 
in  which  the  oil  is  collected.  The  tor- 
pedo was  invented  by  Colonel  Roberts, 
and  patented  by  him  in  1864. 

Some  authorities  are  of  opinion  that 
the  use  of  the  torpedo  is  of  little  value, 
its  effect  being  simply  to  clear  the 
pores  of  the  rock  of  obstructions,  and  the 
apparent  increase  in  the  yield  of  oil  being 
simply  due  to  reaction  from  the  immense 
gas  pressure  produced  by  the  explosion. 
Many  wells,  however,  that  produced  no 
oil  on  the  completion  of  the  drilling 
(technically  termed  "  dry-holes ")  have, 
through  the  use  of  the  torpedo,  been 
caused  to  yield  abundantly.  In  Russia 
the  torpedo  is  never  used. 

A  modification  of  the  rope  system 
of  drilling,  known  as  the  rod  system,  is 
adopted  in  Russia  and  in  Galicia.  The 


34 


rod  system  consists  in  the  substitution  of 
rods  of  40  to  60  feet  in  length,  screwed 
together,  for  the  portion  of  the  drill  ing- 
cable  which  passes  from  the  end  of  the 
walking  beam  to  the  string  of  tools. 
Iron  rods  are  used  in  Russia,  and  wooden 
rods  in  Galicia.  In  the  latter  country, 
where  the  character  of  the  strata  is  such 
that  the  drilling  is  difficult,  and  the  hole 
very  liable  to  depart  from  the  vertical 
line,  in  which  case  the  well  is  rendered 
useless,  the  rods,  in  some  cases,  work  in 
guides.  The  rod  system  is  stated  by 
some  authorities  to  be  preferable  to  the 
rope  system  for  use  in  Eussia,  and  also 
in  Canada,  but  it  is  a  less  expeditious 
method  of  drilling,  the  time  occupied  in 
disconnecting  the  rods,  when  the  tools 
are  drawn  up  for  the  removal  of  the  pul- 
verized rock,  and  the  sharpening  of  the 
bit,  being  considerable,  especially  when 
the  well  has  become  deep.  In  Russia  it 
is  usual  to  commence  drilling  with  a  bit 
as  much  as  15  inches  or  16  inches,  or 
even  more,  in  diameter,  but  it  is  generally 
found  necessary  to  gradually  diminish 


35 


the  size  of  the  bit  as  the  drilling  pro- 
ceeds. 

The  depth  of  the  petroleum  wells  in 
the  United  States  increased  from  436 
feet  in  1861.  to  1,606  feet  or  more  in 
1878.  There  has  been  a  further  increase 
in  depth  since  the  latter  year,  especially 
in  certain  localities.  Thus  the  compara- 
tively recently  drilled  Gordon  well  in 
Washington  county  has  a  depth  of  2,400 
feet/  The  cost  of  this  well  is  stated  to 
have  been  $7,500  to  $8,000. 

The  average  depth  of  the  petroleum 
wells  in  the  Caucasus  has  also  been  pro- 
gressive, having  increased  from  154  feet 
in  1873,  to  450  feet  in  1884.  Certain  of 
the  wells  are,  however  much  deeper,  one 
having  a  depth  of  721  feet.  It  has 
been  estimated  that  the  average  level  of 
the  oil  in  the  Baku  (Balakhani-Saboont- 
chi)  oil  field  is  lowered  to  the  extent  of  56 
feet  for  every  500,000,000  gallons  ex- 
tracted. 

The  irregular  character  of  the  strata 
renders  the  operation  of  well-drilling,  as 
a  rule,  more  costly  in  Southern  Kussia 


36 

than  in  the  United  States,  the  expense  of 
a  well  in  the  Baku  district  being  stated 
at  from  £1,000  to  £3,000,  according  to 
circumstances.  The  depth  of  the  wells 
in  Galicia  range  from  250  to  350  meters. 
The  yield  of  petroleum  wells  varies 
greatly.  Of  the  producing  wells  in  the 
"United  States,  numbering  20,000,  or 
more,  the  great  majority  furnish  only  a 
few  barrels  of  oil  per  day,  but  some  are 
stated  to  have  yielded,  for  a  short  time, 
as  much  as  260,000  gallons  per  24  hours. 
This  splendid  yield  is,  however,  com- 
pletely eclipsed  by  that  of  some  of  the 
wells  in  the  Baku  district.  In  well-drill- 
ing in  the  latter  locality,  it  is  usual  to 
affix  to  the  top  of  the  casing  a  strong 
iron  cap,  provided  with  a  sliding  valve, 
as  soon  as  the  oil  is  "  struck."  The  pe- 
troleum is  thus  bottled  up,  and  is  only 
drawn  off  as  required.  In  Baku,  in  the 
autumn  of  1884,  one  of  these  capped 
wells  was  opened.  On  drawing  the 
slide  a  mighty  column  of  crude  petro- 
leum, more  than  a  foot  in  diameter, 
immediately  shot  up  to  a  height  of 


37 


over  100  feet,  with  a  roar,  and  this 
magnificent  fountain  continued  to  play 
as  long  as  the  valve  remained  open,  form- 
ing a  lake  of  oil  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  derrick.  This  well  yields  at  the  rate 
of  1,125,000  gallons  per  24  hours  when- 
ever opened.  The  celebrated  Droojba 
well,  and  one  of  Nobel's  wells,  both 
yielded,  however,  for  some  time,  about 
double  that  quantity.  In  the  case  of  the 
Droojba  well,  the  flow  commenced  before 
the  cap  could  be  fixed,  and  the  well  was 
for  four  months  quite  uncontrollable, 
sending  up  a  fountain  to  a  height  of  200 
to  300  feet,  and  deluging  the  surround- 
ing land  with  the  oil.  The  sand  thrown 
up  with  the  oil  did  considerable  damage  to 
neighboring  property,  engine-houses  and 
workshops  being  partially  buried  in  it. 
The  use  of  the  caps  is  not  free  from  diffi- 
culty, for  the  oil  contains  so  much  sand, 
that  in  its  rapid  flow  under  the  great 
pressure  prevailing,  a  considerable  thick- 
ness of  iron  is  quickly  cut  through.  The 
principle  of  capping  wells  is  not  adopted 
in  the  United  States,  the  object  there 


38 


being  to  drill  the  territory  acquired  as 
quickly  as  possible,  and  take  out  the  oil. 
It  has  been  demonstrated  in  the  United 
States  that  there  is  a  lateral  flow  of  oil 
through  the  oil- sand  (in  one  instance  red 
paint  put  into  a  well  was  pumped  out  of 
another  about  half-a-mile  distant),  and  it 
is  therefore  impossible  for  an  owner  or 
lessee  of  oil  territory  to  preserve  the  oil 
beneath  the  surface.  The  oil  must  be 
raised,  or  it  would  be  drained  away  by 
wells  on  neighboring  property. 
•^  The  average  length  of  time  during 
(which  an  oil  well  in  the  United  States 
will  yield  oil  in  remunerative  quantity  has 
been  estimated  at  five  years,  but,  from 
what  has  been  stated,  it  will  be  apparent 
that  the  period  must  necessarily  vary 
within  very  wide  limits. 

The  pressure  of  the  oil  in  the  Baku 
capped  wells  is  frequently  as  much  as 
200  Ibs.,  or  even  in  some  cases  probably 
f  300  Ibs.  per  square  inch,  and  although 
the  upper  part  of  the  casing  is  anchored 
to  the  ground,  there  is  some  danger  of 
the  fittings  being  blown  off  when  the 


39 


valve  is  closed  after  drawing  off  a  supply 
of  oil.  There  are  about  400  wells  in  the 
Baku  district,  only  some  100  of  which 
are  productive,*  and  of  the  latter  not 
more  than  20  were  flowing  wells. 
These  20  wells  would,  however, 
for  a  time,  yield  more  than  enough 
crude  oil  for  the  manufacture  of 
the  1,800,000,  to  2,000,000  gallons  of 
burning  oil  which  the  world  daily  con- 
sumes. Wells  in  the  Baku  district 
which  do  not  flow  cannot  be  pumped  in 
the  ordinary  way,  in  consequence  of  the 
large  quantity  of  sand  present  (sometimes 
as  much  as  30  to  40  per  cent.),  and  the 
oil  is  raised  to  the  surface  in  cylinders 
resembling  the  sand-pump. 

The  cylinder  used  commonly  holds 
45  gallons,  and  it  is  stated  that 
from  18,000  to  20,000  gallons  can  thus 
be  raised  from  each  well  in  a  working 
day  of  10  hours. 

The  gas-wells  in  the  United  States  are 
similar  to  the  oil-wells,  the  casing  heads 

*  Vasilieff  gives  the  average  yield  of  these  100  wells 
as  32  tons  per  well  per  day. 


40 


of  some  in  the  neighborhood  of  Clarks- 
ville  being  firmly  secured  to  the  ground 
by  chains. 

According  to  Mr.  Carnegie,  the  largest 
gas-well  known  yields  about  30,000,000 
cubic  feet  of  gas  in  24  hours,  but  half 
this  quantity  may  be  considered  as  the 
product  of  a  good  gas-well.  The  pressure 
of  the  gas  at  the  mouth  of  one  of  these 
wells  was  shown  by  the  gauge  to  be 
187  Ibs.  on  the  square  inch,  and  at  the 
works  where  the  gas  was  used,  nine  miles 
form  the  well,  the  pressure  was  75  Ibs. 
per  inch. 

When  wells  have  ceased  to  yield  oil  in 
remunerative  quantity  in  the  United 
States,  it  is  usual  to  draw  out  the  iron 
casing  for  use  in  other  wells ;  but  as  this 
operation  allows  surface  water  to  gain 
access  to  the  oil -sand,  and  as  it  has  been 
found  that  the  yield  of  adjacent  wells  is 
prejudicially  affected  by  this  "  flooding," 
as  it  is  termed,  the  Pennsylvania  Legis- 
lature enacted  that  abandoned  wells 
should  be  "  plugged "  by  filling  them 
with  sand.  The  prejudicial  effect  of  the 


41 

flooding  of  the  oil-bearing  strata  has,  it 
appears,  recently  been  experienced  in  the 
Caucasus,  the  percentage  of  water  in  the 
oil  raised  in  that  locality  being,  accord- 
ing to  Vasilieff,  steadily  on  the  increase. 
When  the  oil  has  reached  the  surface, 
either  by  flowing  or  being  pumped,  it  is 
conducted  into  a  tank,  usually  of  wood, 
holding  about  250  barrels.  In  America, 
quantities  of  crude  petroleum  are 
always  stated  in  "barrels"  of  42 
American  gallons  (5  American  gallons 
=  4  Imperial  gallons).  In  the  early 
days  of  the  industry  in  the  United 
States,  the  only  method  of  transporting 
the  oil  from  the  well  was  to  place  it  in 
oak  barrels  holding  40  or  50  gallons,  and 
to  convey  these  brarels  by  road  to  Oil 
Creek,  where  their  contents  were  emptied 
into  bulk  barges  holding  about  2,000 
barrels.  As 'Oil  Creek  was  not  navigable, 
arrangements  were  made  with  mill  own- 
ers for  the  use  of  the  surplus  water 
stored  in  the  dams,  and  at  intervals  the 
barges  were  floated  down  from  dam  to 
dam  until  they  reached  the  mouth  of  the 


42 

Creek,  at  its  junction  with  the  Alleghany 
River,  from  which  point  there  was  good 
flat-boat  navigation  to  Pittsburgh.  This 
method  of  transportation  was  not  only 
very  costly,  but  was  also  attended  with 
frequent  loss  of  oil  through  the  barges 
coming  into  collision  while  being  floated 
down.  On  one  occasion  from  20,000  to 
30,000  barrels  of  oil  were  thus  lost. 
Added  to  this,  the  roads  over  which  the 
barrels  had  to  be  drawn  to  the  water 
were  little  better  than  paths  through  the 
woods.  Nevertheless,  the  system,  for 
want  of  a  better,  was  for  some  time 
largely  adopted,  over  1  000  boats,  40 
steamers,  and  4,000  men  being  engaged 
in  the  traffic. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1862,  a  branch  of 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railway 
was  carried  into  the  oil  regions,  and  at  a 
later  date  the  Alleghany  Valley  Railway 
was  opened  up  from  Oil  City,  at  the 
mouth  of  Oil  Creek,  to  Pittsburgh,  and  a 
number  of  narrow-gauge  railways  were 
constructed  as  feeders. 

Crude  oil  was  at  first  conveyed  by  rail, 


43 


in  barrels  coated  internally  with  glue, 
but  the  small  quantity  of  water  present 
in  the  oil  was  found  to  dissolve  the  glue, 
and  cause  the  barrels  to  leak.  To  re- 
move this  difficulty,  and  to  reduce  the 
cost  of  handling  the  oil,  tank  wagons 
were  adopted  in  1865  or  1866.  These 
wagons  at  first  consisted  of  an  ordinary 
truck,  on  which  were  placed  two  circular 
wooden  tanks,  or  tubs,  holding  from 
2,000  to  4,000  gallons.  In  1871  the 
tank  car  now  employed  was  introduced.; 
This  consists  of  a  cylinder  of  boiler-plate, 
lying  upon  a  four-wheeled  truck,  and 
provided  with  a  dome  similar  to  that 
which  a  horizontal  steam  boiler  has. 
The  tank  is  furnished  with  means  of 
filling  at  the  top,  and  with  a  valve  be- 
neath by  which  it  can  be  emptied.  The 
tank  is  now  usually  about  24  feet  6  inches 
in  length  by  66  inches  in  diameter,  and 
holds  from  4,500  to  5,000  gallons. 

Tank  barges,  130  feet  by  22  feet  by  16 
feet,  divided  into  eight  compartments 
with  water-tight  bulkheads,  and  holding 
2,200  barrels,  are  also  at  present  used 


44 


for  the  conveyance  of  crude  oil  on  the 
Alleghany  River. 

In  1862  a  bill  was  introduced  into 
the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  for  a  pipe- 
line from  Oil  Creek  to  Kittanning,  but 
this  and  a  subsequent  scheme  for 
laying  a  pipe-line  down  the  Alleghany 
River  to  Pittsburgh,  were  strongly  op- 
posed and  came  to  nothing.  According 
to  Mr.  C.  L.  Wheeler,  the  credit  of 
having  first  suggested  the  laying  of  a 
pipe-line  belongs  to  General  Karns,  while 
a  Mr.  Hutchinson  was  the  first  to  carry 
out  the  idea.  Hutchinson's  pipe,  which, 
was  only  about  three  miles  in  length, 
was,  however,  defectively  constructed, 
and  leaked  so  much  that  little  if  any  of 
the  oil  run  in  at  one  end  reached  the 
other.  Mr.  Peckham  states  that  the 
first  successful  pipe  was  laid  by  Van 
Syckle,  of  TitusviUe,  in  1865.  This  line, 
which  was  four  miles  in  length,  and 
another,  were  afterwards  worked  by 
the  Alleghany  Transportation  Company, 
though  not  at  first  without  considerable 
opposition  from  the  teamsters,  who  more 


45 


than  once  maliciously  severed  the  pipes. 
However,  by  the  employment  of  armed 
patrols,  the  lines  were  preserved  from 
destruction,  and  after  a  time  the  opposi- 
tion ceased.  Gradually  a  system  of 
pipe-lines,  running  from  the  wells  to 
central  stations  and  thence  to  loading 
stages  on  the  railway  lines,  was  con- 
structed, and  in  1876  there  were  eight 
or  nine  companies  owning  pipe-lines  in 
the  oil  regions,  and  issuing  negotiable 
certificates  for  the  oil  which  they  col- 
lected. 

*l  At  the  present  time  there  is  in  the  oil 
regions  of  the  United  States  a  complete 
network  of  2-inch  piping  connecting  the 
various  wells  with  storage  tanks  and 
trunk  lines.  These  pipes  run  across 
country  and  through  streets ;  it  is  impos- 
sible to  get  any  accurate  statistics  of 
their  collective  length,  but  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  there  are  thousands  of  miles  of 
this  2-inch  piping  thus  employed  in  the 
collection  of  the  crude  oil. 

In  1875,  the  first  trunk  line  was  laid. 
This  extended  from  the  lower  oil  country 


46 


to  Pittsburgh,  a  distance  of  sixty  miles, 
and  was  4  inches  in  diameter.  Like  the 
first  pipe-lines  from  the  wells,  it  had  for 
a  time  to  be  protected  by  armed  men. 

As  the  refining  trade  developed  it  be- 
came concentrated  on  the  seaboard  and 
on  the  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  and  the  trans- 
portation of  the  crude  material  to  the 
refineries  became  a  business  of  very  great 
importance.  From  1878  to  1881-2,  the 
construction  of  great  trunk  lines  was 
continuous.  Consolidation  of  the  trans- 
porting companies  also  took  place,  and  at 
the  present  time  the  pipe-lines,  with  one 
exception,  are  under  the  control  of  a  very 
wealthy  corporation,  known  as  the  Na- 
tional Transit  Company,  which  is  said  to 
have  $15,000,000  invested  in  oil  trans- 
porting plant.  This  company  owns  the 
following  lines : — 

Miles. 
From  Olean,  N.  Y.,  to  New  York,  Bay- 

onne  and  Brooklyn (length)  300 

From  Colegrove,  Pa.,  to  Phila  .  "  280 

From  Millway,  Pa.,  to  Baltimore. .  "  70 

From  Hilliards,  Pa.,  to  Cleveland.  "  100 
From  Four  Mile,  Cattaraugus  Co.,  N.  Y., 

to  Buffalo (length)  70 

From  Carbon  Centre,  Butler  Co.,  Pa.,  to 

Pittsburgh (length)  60 


47 

A  total,  including  the  duplicate  lines,  of 
about  1,330  miles.  The  New  York  line 
consists  of  two  6 -inch  tubes  for  the  en- 
tire distance,  with  a  third  6-inch  tube  for 
a  portion  of  the  way,  and  is  provided 
with  eleven  pumping  stations  about  28 
miles  apart.  The  transporting  capacity 
of  this  line  is  about  28,000  barrels  per 
day.  The  greatest  elevation  of  the  pipe 
between  stations  above  tide-water  is 
2,490  feet.  The  Philadelphia  pipe  has  a 
diameter  of  6  inches  with  six  stations ; 
the  Baltimore  pipe  is  5  inches  in  diame- 
ter without  a  break ;  the  Cleveland  pipe 
5  inches  with  four  stations ;  and  the 
Buffalo  and  Pittsburgh  pipes  4  inches 
with  two  stations. 

The  pipe  is  made  specially,  and  is  of 
wrought  iron,  lap-welded.  It  is  tested 
to  a  pressure  of  1,500  Ibs.  per  square 
inch,  the  working  pressure  being  900  to 
1,200  or  even  sometimes  1,500  Ibs.  The 
pipe  is  in  lengths  of  18  feet,  provided 
at  each  end  with  coarse  and  sharp  taper 
threads,  nine  to  the  inch,  and  the  lengths 
are  connected  with  long  sleeve  couplings, 


48 

also  screwed  taper.     The  line  is  usually 
laid  two  or  three  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  ground,  though  in  some  places  it 
is   exposed,  and   at  intervals  bends  are 
provided  to  allow  for  contraction  and  ex- 
pansion.    At  the  different  pumping  sta- 
tions there  are   storage   tanks   of   light 
boiler  plate,  usually  90  feet  in  diameter 
by    30    feet    in    height,   the   oil    being 
pumped  from  the  tanks  at  one  station  to 
those   at   the    next,    though    sometimes 
loops  are  laid  round  the  stations,  and  oil 
has  thus  been  pumped  a  distance  of  110 
miles   with   one  engine.     The   pumping 
engines  chiefly  employed  are  the  Worth- 
ington  engines,  constructed  at  the  Worth- 
ington  Works  in  New  York,  and  at  each 
station  there  is  usually  a  duplicate  set. 
The  characteristics  of  these  pumps  are, 
according  to  the  Engineering  News,  in- 
dependent plungers  with  exterior  pack- 
ing,  valve  boxes  subdivided  into   small 
chambers,  and  leather-lined  metallic  valves 
with  low  lift   and   large   surfaces.     The 
engines   vary  in  size   from   200   to   800 
horse-power.     The  pumps   are   so   con- 


49 


structed  that  before  one  plunger  has 
completed  its  stroke  another  has  taken 
up  the  work.  The  column  of  oil  is  thus 
kept  continuously  in  motion,  and  the 
violent  concussions  which  occur  when  the 
oil  column  is  allowed  to  come  to  rest  be- 
tween the  strokes  are  avoided. 

The  tanks  usually  hold  about  30,000 
barrels.  They  are  of  boiler  plate,  roofed 
with  wood,  covered  with  sheet  iron,  the 
roof  being  usually  slightly  conical. 

The  system  of  issuing  certificates  for  the 
crude  oil  stored,  adopted  by  the  National 
Transit  Company,  is  as  follows  :  When  a 
producer  has  filled  the  tank  at  his  well,  he 
summons  an  officer  of  the  company,  who, 
in  association  with  the  well  owner,  gauges 
the  quantity  of  oil,  issues  a  voucher  for 
the  amount,  less  3  per  cent,  to  cover  loss 
in  transit,  and  runs  the  oil  into  the  com- 
pany's pipes.  The  oil  thus  received  by 
the  company  is  treated  like  a  deposit  in 
a  bank,  and  is  transferable  by  written 
order.  Such  order,  when  accepted  by 
the  company,  is  known  as  a  certificate, 
but  as  dealings  on  the  Oil  Exchange  are 


50 


usually  on  the  basis  of  1,000  barrels,  cer- 
tificates are,  as  far  as  possible,  made  out 
only  for  this  quantity.  The  oil  is  held 
rent  free  for  30  days,  and  at  the  expira- 
tion of  this  time  a  charge  is  made  for 
storage.  Only  a  limited  amount  of  clas- 
sification of  the  crude  oil  in  the  pipe  line 
system  is  possible,  and  obviously  the  oil 
from  a  particular  well  loses  its  identity 
as  soon  as  it  passes  into  the  company's 
pipes.  The  heavy  oil  from  the  Franklin 
and  other  districts,  and  also  some  of  the 
lighter  crude  oils,  are,  therefore,  trans- 
ported in  barrels. 

The  trunk  line  is  owned  by  the  Tide- 
water Pipe  Company.  This  line,  which 
consists  of  one  pipe  6  inches  in  diameter, 
extends  from  Kixford,  in  the  Bradford 
field  (about  eight  miles,  as  the  crow  flies, 
southeast  of  the  town  of  Bradford),  in  a 
general  southeasterly  direction,  to  Tam- 
anend,  in  Schuylkill  county ;  there  the 
oil  is  transferred  to  tank  cars,  and  con- 
veyed by  the  Beading  Bailroad  to  Ches- 
ter, a  town  fifteen  miles  from  Philadel- 
phia, or  to  Bayonne,  New  Jersey.  From 


51 


Bixford  to  Tamanend  is  a  distance  of 
about  170  miles,  and  in  this  distance 
there  are  five  pumping  stations.  Instead 
of  the  stations  being  placed,  as  they  are 
on  the  National  Transit  Company's  lines, 
at  pretty  regular  distances  of  25  or  30 
miles  apart,  they  are  separated  by  inter- 
vals corresponding  in  some  measure  with 
the  incline,  the  greatest  distance  being 
55  miles,  and  the  shortest  24  miles.  By 
the  use  of  loop  lines  round  the  stations, 
the  oil  is,  however,  frequently  pumped, 
in  hot  weather,  when  it  is  most  fluid,  a 
distance  of  eighty  miles.  The  working 
pressure  is  1,000  Ibs.  per  square  inch, 
and  the  capacity  of  the  line  10,000  bar- 
rels per  twenty-four  hours.  At  this  high 
pressure  leaks  occasionally  occur,  and 
workmen  have  had  their  hands  cut  to 
the  bone  by  the  fine  stream  of  oil 
issuing  from  some  minute  orifice  when 
engaged  in  stopping  the  leaks. 

A  very  interesting  feature  of  the  pipe- 
line system  of  transportation  is  the  ar- 
rangement adopted  for  cleaning  the 
pipes,  and  removing  obstructions  caused 


52 

by  sediment.  The  apparatus  used  is 
termed  a  "  go  devil,"  a  name  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  also  applied  to  the  iron 
weight  which  serves  to  explode  the  tor- 
pedo. The  pipe-cleaning  "  go-devil"  con- 
sists in  many  cases  of  a  brush  of  steel 
wire  of  conical  form,  fitted,  at  the  base  or 
rear  end  of  the  cone,  with  a  leather  valve 
in  four  sections,  strengthened  with  brass 
plates  and  also  furnished  with  long  steel 
wire  guides.  This  instrument  is  impelled 
by  the  stream  of  oil,  and  travels  at  the 
rate  of  about  three  miles  an  hour.  Its 
progress  can  be  traced  by  the  scraping 
sound  which  it  makes,  and  it  is  followed 
from  one  pumping  station  to  another  by 
relays  of  men  on  foot.  It  must  never  be 
allowed  to  get  out  of  hearing,  otherwise, 
in  the  event  of  its  progress  being  arrested 
by  an  obstruction,  it  may  be  necessary  to 
take  up  a  considerable  length  of  piping 
to  ascertain  its  position. 

We  have  now  to  consider  the  method 
of  transportation  of  crude  petroleum  in 
the  Caucasus.  Up  to  the  year  1876,  the 
transport  of  oil  in  this  locality  took 


53 


place  in  large  barrels,  which  were  con- 
veyed from  the  wells  to  the  refineries  in 
primitive  two-wheeled  Persian  carts, 
termed  "  arbas,"  one  barrel  being  placed 
in  the  body  of  the  vehicle,  and  another 
slung  between  the  lofty  wheels.  Thou- 
sands of  these  carts  were  at  one  time  in 
use,  and  it  is  stated  that  as  much  as 
£100,000  per  annum  has  been  paid  to 
the  carters  for  this  method  of  transport- 
ation. Messrs.  Nobel  Brothers  were 
the  first  to  substitute  a  pipe  line  for  the 
*'  arba  "  system  of  conveyance,  and  their 
example  being  soon  followed,  there  are 
now  seven  or  more  pipes  connecting  the 
Balakhani-Saboontchi  oil  field  with  the 
Baku  refineries  some  eight  or  nine  miles 
distant.  Of  these  lines,  Messrs,  Nobel  own 
the  two  largest,  of  the  respective  diame- 
ters of  6  inches  and  5  inches.  Messrs. 
Nobel's  first  line  is  stated  to  have  cost 
£10,000,  and  the  average  cost  of  a  6  inch 
line  is  stated  by  Mr.  Marvin  to  be  about 
8,000  roubles  per  verst.  Messrs.  Nobel's 
experiment  was  attended  by  the  same 
difficulties  that  were  experienced  in  laying 


54 


the  first  pipe  lines  in  the  United  States, 
the  native  carters  strenuously  opposing 
the  interference  with  their  business,  and 
the  greater  lawlessness  prevailing  in  the 
Caucasus,  and  the  ferocity  of  the  oppo- 
nents, rendering  the  task  of  protecting 
the  line  one  of  no  small  difficulty  and 
danger.  It  was,  in  fact,  found  necessary 
to  erect  a  series  of  watch-houses  along 
the  route,  in  which  armed  men  were 
stationed.  The  capacity  of  the  seven 
pipe  lines  is  estimated  at  more  kthan 
700.000,000  gallons  per  annum.  A  con- 
siderable quantity  of  crude  oil  is  also 
transported  in  tank  wagons  by  rail. 

The  ozokerite  of  Galicia  is  obtained  by 
sinking  shafts  from  130  feet  to  260  feet 
in  depth,  to  the  beds  or  pockets  in  which 
the  material  occurs,  and  then  driving 
tunnels.  The  shafts  generally  pass 
through  about  25  feet  to  30  feet  of  gravel 
or  boulders,  and  then  through  blue 
loam  and  plastic  clay.  In  this  clay, 
usually  at  a  depth  of  140  feet  to  150  feet 
from  the  surface  of  the  ground,  the  ozo- 
kerite, or  earth  wax,  is  found  in  layers  of 


55 

from  1  foot  to  3  feet  in  thickness,  the 
purest  being  of  a  honey-yellow  color, 
and  of  the  hardness  of  beeswax.  Much 
of  the  ozokerite  is,  however,  in  small 
pieces,  and  is  obtained  in  admixture  with 
earthy  matter,  from  which  it  is  separated 
by  fusion. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  third  division  of  our  subject  relates 
to  the  processes  adopted  for  the  man- 
ufacture and  distribution  of  the  various 
commercial  products,  as  well  as  to  the 
methods  employed  for  ascertaining  the 
quality  of  these  products  and  their  suit- 
ability for  the  purposes  to  which  they  are 
to  be  applied. 

Petroleum,  as  we  have  seen,  consists 
of  a  mixture  of  hydrocarbons  of  varying 
volatility,  and  the  first  operation  per- 
formed upon  the  crude  oil  consists  in  the 
partial  separation  of  these  hydrocarbons 
by  a  process  of  fractional  distillation. 
Before  proceeding  to  describe  the  appa- 


56 


ratus  and  process,  however,  it  may  be  well 
to  mention  that  some  of  the  heavier  crude 
oils  are  used  for  lubricating  purposes, 
either  in  the  state  in  which  they  are 
obtained  from  the  wells,  or  after  their 
density  has  been  increased  by  the  evapo- 
ration, at  a  comparatively  low  tempera- 
ture, of  a  portion  of  the  more  easily  vola- 
tilized hydrocarbons  present.  Such  oils, 
called  "natural  oils"  or  "reduced  oils," 
are  found  to  be  of  greater  lubricating 
value  than  distilled  oils  of  similar  density. 
They  are  often  purified  by  nitration 
through  animal  charcoal. 

In  the  manufacture  by  this  process  of 
the  best  oils  for  the  lubrication  of  steam 
engine  cylinders,  a  product  of  less  densi- 
ty is  obtained,  which,  after  being  filtered 
through  animal  charcoal,  and  subsequent- 
ly deprived  of  fluorescence  (or  "  de- 
bloomed,"  as  it  is  technically  termed)  by 
exposure  to  the  sun,  is  known  as  "neutral 
oil."  The  product  is  employed  for  oiling 
wool,  and  sometimes  as  a  spindle  oil  in 
silk  mills,  where  a  specially  fine  oil  is  re- 
quired. The  term  "  amber  oil "  is  com- 


57 

monly  applied  to  an  oil  made  similarly  to 
cylinder  oil,  but  of  less  density.  This  oil, 
which  is  red  rather  than  amber  in  color, 
is  purified  simply  by  filtration  through 
animal  charcoal,  and  therefore  without 
the  use  of  acid.  It  is  to  some  extent 
used  as  an  engine  oil  in  the  United  States, 
and  as  a  lubricant  for  printing  presses. 
The  first  attempts  to  refine  petroleum 
commercially  in  the  United  States  were 
probably  made  in  the  year  1854,  when  a 
still  having  a  capacity  of  five  barrels  was 
erected  in  Pittsburgh,  for  refining  the 
small  quantity  of  crude  oil  obtained  in 
the  neighborhood  ;  but  the  scarcity  of  the 
raw  material  prevented  for  some  time  any 
important  development  of  the  industry. 
Up  to  the  year  1862,  the  stills  commonly 
employed  had  a  cylindrical  cast-iron  body 
with  boiler-plate  bottom  and  cast-iron 
dome  with  goose  neck  bolted  on.  The 
capacity  of  these  stills  was  usually  about 
twenty-five  barrels,  and  .the  charge  was 
distilled  to  dryness.  At  the  present  time 
the  process  of  distillation  is  divided  into 
two  distinct  parts.  In  the  first  part  of 


58 

the  process  stills  of  two  forms  are  usually 
employed.  These  forms  are  respectively 
the  plain  cylindrical  still,  and  what  is 
known  as  the  "  cheese-box  "  still.  The  for- 
mer consists  of  a  cylinder  of  boiler  plate,* 
30  feet  in  length  by  12  feet  6  inches  in 
diameter,  furnished  with  a  dome  3  feet 
in  diameter  from  which  passes  a  vapor 
pipe  15  inches  in  diameter.  This  still  is 
set  horizontally  in  a  furnace  of  brick-work, 
usually  so  constructed  that  the  upper 
part  of  the  still  is  exposed  to  the  air.  The 
'"  cheese-box  "  still  has  a  body  and  dome- 
shaped  top  of  boiler-plate,  and  a  double 
curved  bottom  of  steel  plate.  It  is  30 
feet  in  diameter  and  9  feet  in  height, 
and  is  set  on  a  series  of  brick  arches. 
The  vapor  is  passed  from  the  still 
through  three  pipes  into  a  vapor  chest, 
and  thence  through  forty  3 -inch  pipes. 
Wet  steam  is  usually  introduced  into  the 
exit  pipes  of  these  stills  so  that  it  may 
mingle  with  the  vapor. 

The  working  charge  of  the  cylindrical 
stills  is  about  600  barrels  and  of  the  cheese 

The  lower  hilf  of  ths  cylinder  is  generally  of  steel. 


(UNIVEESIT' 
59 

box  stills  about  double  that  quantity. 
Connected  with  the  stills  are  the  condens- 
ers. These  were  formerly  copper  worms, 
but  now  consist  of  iron  pipes,  usually 
straight,  passing  through  tanks  of  cold 
water.  A  modern  condensing  arrange- 
ment may  be  described  as  consisting  of  a 
series  of  forty  separate  3-inch  pipes,  the 
vapor  passing  in  at  one  end,  and  the  con- 
densed oil  flowing  out  at  the  other  end 
of  each  pipe.  In  some  cases,  methods  of 
fractional  condensation,  more  or  less 
complicated,  designed  to  effect  the  more 
complete  separation  of  the  commercial 
products,  are  adopted. 

In  the  second  part  of  the  process  of 
distillation,  cylindrical  stills,  which  are 
commonly  of  steel,  and  hold  about  260 
barrels,  are  employed. 

The  crude  petroleum  on  reaching  the 
works  is  placed  in  storage  tanks,  and  is 
thence  pumped  into  the  stills.  A  fire  having 
been  lighted  in  the  furnace  beneath  the 
still  the  temperature  of  the  oil  is  gradually 
raised,  and  the  more  volatile  constituents 
distilled  off.  The  crude  naphtha  thus 


60 


obtained  is  sometimes  collected  in  two 
fractions.  Sufficient  of  the  lighter  hy- 
drocarbons having  been  separated  to 
give  the  next  commercial  product  (which 
is  the  burning  oil  of  commerce)  the  re- 
quired flashing  point  or  fire  test,  the  dis- 
tillation is  continued  until  a  point  is 
reached  at  which  the  operation  must  be 
arrested,  otherwise  the  burning  oil  would 
have  too  high  a  specific  gravity.  The 
product  of  burning  oil  is  frequently 
divided  into  two  or  more  fractions.  In 
practice,  the  termination  of  the  collection 
of  the  naphtha  and  the  burning  oil  re- 
spectively takes  place  when  the  distillate 
issuing  from  the  condensers  reaches  a 
specified  density.  The  percentage  of 
these  two  commercial  products  varies  ac- 
cording to  the  character  of  the  crude 
oil,  and  the  method  of  distillation ;  the 
average  yield  may,  however,  be  stated  to 
be  about  12  per  cent,  of  naphtha,  and  75 
per  cent  of  burning  oil  (110°  fire  test). 
Of  the  higher  class  of  burning  oil  known 
as  "  water-white  oil,''  only  from  12  to  20 
per  cent  is  obtained.  The  fluid  residue 


61 


in  the  still,  known  as  residuum,  and 
amounting  to  about  6  per  cent.,  having 
been  run  off,  there  remains  a  quantity  of 
coke,  which  represents  from  1  per  cent. 
to  1^-  per  cent,  of  the  original  charge. 
The  time  occupied  in  working  a  charge 
is  from  three  to  four  days.  This  separa- 
tion of  the  naphtha  and  burning  oil  con- 
stitutes  the  first  part  of  the  process  of 
distilling  the  crude  petroleum.  The  sec- 
ond part  of  the  process,  which  is  usually 
conducted  at  other  works,  consists  in  dis- 
tilling the  residuum  to  dry  ness,  and  obtain- 
ing lubricating  oils  and  solid  paraffine. 
The  residuum,  which  has  an  average  speci- 
fic gravity  of  about  19°  B.  (equal  to  .942) 
is,  when  practicable,  Conveyed  from  one 
refinery  to  the  other  in  bulk  barges.  The 
time  occupied  in  the  working  of  the  charge 
is  about  thirty  hours.  The  distilled  pro- 
ducts are  collected  in  several  fluid  frac- 
tions, holding  the  solid  hydrocarbons  in 
solution.  The  coke  which  remains  in  the 
still  at  the  end  of  the  process  amounts  to 
about  12  per  cent. 

Superheated  steam  is  often  passed  into 


62 

the  stills  during  the  distillation.  In  the 
production  of  some  of  the  special  grades 
of  u  reduced  oils,7'  vacuum  stills  are  em- 
ployed. The  crude  naphtha  is  redistilled 
by  steam  heat  in  cylindrical  stills  hold- 
ing 500  barrels,  and  is  sometimes  sepa- 
rated into  the  following  commercial  pro- 
ducts, the  more  volatile  of  which  are 
colorless : 

No.       Density.  Name.  Use. 

1.  90°B  ..  Rhigolene  or  cymogene. 

For  surgical  purposes . 

2.  88°/86°B  ..  Gasoline. 

For  air-gas  machines. 

3.  76°B  . .  Boulevard  gas  fluid. 

For  street  naphtha  lamps. 

4.  73°/68°B  ..  Prime  city  naphtha  (benzoline.) 

For  "  Sponge  Lamps,"  &c. 
5  62°B  ..  Benzine. 

For  oil-cloth  and  varnish  making. 

The  time  occupied  in  working  the 
charge  is  about  48  hours.  The  percent- 
age of  these  products  varies,  but  as  a  rule 
amounts  to  about  25  per  cent,  of  the  first 
three  collectively,  rather  more  than  25 
per  cent,  of  the  4th  and  about  40  per 
cent,  of  the  5th. 

Such  is  an  outline  of  the  method  of 
distilling  crude  petroleum  in  the  United 


63 


States.  There  are,  however,  many  detail 
variations,  the  precise  conditions  under 
which  the  operation  is  conducted  being 
by  no  means  uniform.  In  all  cases,  how- 
ever, the  principal  object  in  view  is  to 
obtain  the  largest  yield  of  burning  oil, 
lubricating  oil  and  paraffine,  consistent 
with  these  products  being  of  satisfactory 
quality. 

The  next  step  in  the  process  of  refin- 
ing consists  in  a  treatment  of  the  distil- 
late with  sulphuric  acid.  This  operation 
is  conducted  in  tall  cylindrical  wrought 
iron  tanks,  40  feet  or  more  in  height  by 
20  feet  or  more  in  diameter,  sometimes 
lead-lined,  holding  from  1,200  to  1,800 
barrels,  and  termed  agitators.  The  oil 
having  been  pumped  into  the  tank,  a 
blast  of  air  under  a  pressure  of  5  to  7 
pounds  per  square  inch  is  introduced 
through  a  pipe  at  the  base  of  the  tank, 
and  the  oil  thus  brought  into  a  condition 
of  active  agitation.  Oil  of  vitriol  is  then 
forced  to  the  top  of  the  tank  by  air  press- 
ure, and  is  gradually  "  showered  "  into 
the  petroleum  through  a  perforated 


64 


leaden  pipe,  in  the  proportion  of  about 
six  pounds  of  acid  to  one  barrel  of  oil. 
After  the  agitation  has  been  continued 
for  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to  bring  the 
acid  thoroughly  into  contact  with  the  oil, 
the  air  blast  is  shut  off,  and  the  tarry 
acid  (termed  acid  tar  or  sludge  acid) 
having  been  allowed  to  settle  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  tank,  is  drawn  off.  The  acid 
is  occasionally  recovered  and  concen- 
trated for  further  use.  The  oil  is  then 
agitated  with  water,  next  with  a  solution 
of  caustic  soda,  to  complete  the  removal 
of  the  acid,  and  finally  with  water  again, 
to  which  sometimes  a  little  ammonia  is 
added.  The  oil  is  then  run  into  a  shal 
low  rectangular  iron  tank,  usually  pro- 
vided with  a  steam  coil  for  raising  the 
temperature  in  cold  weather,  where  the 
water  which  it  contains  settles  out, 
and  the  oil  becomes  bright.  In  connec- 
tion with  this  tank  there  is  an  arrange- 
ment for  "  spraying  "  the  oil.  This  opera- 
tion consists  in  running  the  oil  in  fine 
streams  through  small  orifices  in  pipes 
placed  about  the  tank,  and  its  effect  is  to 


65 

remove  some  of  the  more  volatile  hydro- 
carbons present,  and  thus  bring  the  "test" 
of  the  oil  up  to  the  required  point.  From 
the  settling  tanks  the  oil  passes  to  the 
barreling  or  canning  tanks. 

The  treatment  of  the  less  volatile  of 
the  naphtha  distillates  with  acid  is  simi- 
lar to  that  which  is  applied  to  the  oil,  but 
mechanical  agitation,  by  means  of  a  ver- 
tical revolving  shaft  fitted  with  arms,  is 
usually  substituted  for  the  air  blast,  as 
the  latter  would  cause  the  evaporation  of 
the  more  volatile  constituents.  A  simi- 
lar method  of  agitation  was  formerly 
adopted  in  treating  the  burning  oil.  The 
acid  treatment  is  applied  to  the  naphtha 
with  the  object  of  deodorizing,  but  in  the 
case  of  the  oil  an  improvement  of  color 
as  well  as  of  odor  results. 

The  lubricating  oil  distillates  are  also 
treated  with  acid,  but  before  being  sub- 
jected to  this  process  they  are  cooled  in 
order  to  separate  the  solid  hydrocar- 
bons. The  cooling  was  formerly  effected 
somewhat  rapidly,  but  it  has  now  become 
the  practice  to  operate  upon  a  consider- 


66 

able  bulk  of  oil,  and  to  reduce  the  tem- 
perature slowly,  as  it  is  found  that  the 
paraffine  is  thus  obtained  in  a  more  crys- 
talline form.  The  cooling  or  chilling 
tanks,  employed  at  some  of  the  most 
modern  works,have  a  capacity  of  3,000  gal- 
lons, and  the  period  occupied  in  the  cool- 
ing is  as  much  as  twenty- six  hours.  The 
reduction  of  temperature  is  effected 
through  the  medium  of  a  solution  of 
magnesium  chloride,  brought  to  the  re- 
quired temperature  by  means  of  an  am- 
monia refrigerating  apparatus.  This 
liquid  circulates  through  a  number  of 
cells  alternating  with  similar  cells  con- 
taining the  oil.  At  the  expiration  of  the 
period  named,  the  semi-solid  mass  is  re- 
moved from  the  cooling  tank,  placed  in 
bags,  and  subjected  to  hydraulic  press- 
ure at  a  temperature  of  40°R  To  effect 
a  further  separation  of  the  oil,  the  press 
cakes  are  then  broken  up,  or  melted  and 
recrystallized,  and  subjected  to  a  second 
pressure  of  about  200  pounds  per  square 
inch  at  a  temperature  of  70°.  The  resid- 
uum yields  about  9  per  cent,  of  paraffine 


67 

by  this  treatment.  For  the  production  of 
hard  and  colorless  paraffine  wnx,  or  of 
wax  suitable  for  candle  making,  the  par- 
affine scale  obtained  as  described  is  puri- 
fied by  crystallization  from  petroleum 
spirit,  or  by  exposing  it  to  a  temperature 
just  sufficient  to  cause  the  fusion  and 
draining  out  of  the  hydrocarbons  of  low- 
est melting  point,  and  by  subsequent 
nitration  through  animal  charcoal.  The 
expressed  oil,  which  varies  in  specific  grav- 
ity, according  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
various  fractions  have  been  separated  in 
the  process  of  distillation,  is  then  subject- 
ed to  an  acid  treatment  similar  to  that 
which  the  burning  oil  undergoes,  and  is 
thus  converted  into  finished  lubricating 
oil. 

Some  lubricating  oils  are  finished  by 
evaporation  and  by  filtration  through  ani- 
mal charcoal,  the  best  oils  for  the  lubri- 
cation of  engine  cylinders  passing  through 
the  latter  process.  Petroleum  lubricat- 
ing oils  consist  chiefly  of  olefines  (CnH2n). 
The  most  volatile  of  the  fractions  obtained 
in  the  distillation  of  the  petroleum  resid- 


68 


uum,  having  a  specific  gravity  of  .820 
(42 °B.)  and  low  flashing  point,  contains 
but  little  paraffine,  and  is  sold  for  gas- 
making  in  the  condition  in  which  it  issues 
from  the  condensers. 

The  semi-solid  mixture  of  uncrystalline 
hydrocarbons  known  as  vaseline,  is 
obtained  by  the  Chesebrough  Manufact- 
uring Company,  under  their  patent,  by 
evaporating  off  the  more  volatile  portion 
of  a  suitable  kind  of  crude  petroleum  and 
purifying  the  residue  by  filtration  through 
animal  charcoal.  The  product  thus 
obtained  is  a  colorless  or  pale  yellow 
translucent  semi-solid,  possessing  slight 
fluorescence.  It  is  freely  soluble  in 
petroleum  or  shale  spirit,  benzol,  ether, 
chloroform,  carbon  disulphide  and  tur- 
pentine. Vaseline  is  a  mixture  of  hydro- 
carbons of  which  the  chemical  composi- 
tion chiefly  ranges  from  C16H34  to  C20H42. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  olefines 
are  present,  but  the  substance  consists 
mainly  of  paraffines. 

The  yield  of  burning  oil  from  a  crude 
petroleum  of  given  quality  has  been  large- 


69 


ly  increased  during  recent  years.  This 
has  been  accomplished  by  the  adoption 
of  the  process  known  as  "  cracking."  We 
have  seen  that  the  crude  petroleum  pro- 
duced in  the  States  of  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York  consists  principally  of  the  hy- 
drocarbons known  to  chemists  as  paraf- 
fines.  The  researches  of  Thorpe  and 
Young  have  demonstrated  that  the  par- 
affines  (CnH2n+2)  when  heated  to  temper- 
atures above  their  boiling  points,  are 
converted  into  olefines  (CnH2n),  carbon 
being  deposited,  and  gaseous  products 
evolved.  It  is  this  operation  of  disso- 
ciation which  is  termed  "cracking,"  and 
its  employment  enables  the  refiner  to 
break  up  the  hydrocarbons  which  are  too 
heavy  to  be  burned  in  ordinary  lamps, 
and  too  fluid  for  use  as  lubricants, 
and  convert  them  into  hydrocarbons 
which  may  be  allowed  to  pass  into  the 
burning  oil  distillate  without  unduly  in- 
creasing its  density.  The  process  of 
cracking  is  carried  out  by  conducting  the 
operation  of  distilling  the  burning  oil  so 
slowly  that  the  less  volatile  hydrocarbons 


70 


become  condensed  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  still,  and  fall  back  into  the  heated  oil, 
where  they  are  heated  to  temperatures 
above  their  boiling  points,  and  become 
"  cracked."  A  far  larger  yield  of  burning 
oil  is  thus  obtained.  The  gaseous  pro- 
ducts are  conducted  into  the  still  fur- 
nace, and  serve  as  fuel.  This  process 
has  been  subjected  to  a  good  deal  of  ad- 
verse criticism,  based  upon  the  view  that 
the  chemical  composition  of  the  olefines 
renders  them  inferior  to  the  paraffine  for 
illuminating  purposes,  and  that  their 
capacity  of  forming  substitution  com- 
pounds with  the  acid  used  in  refining 
leads  to  the  contamination  of  the  burning 
oil  with  sulphur  products.  There  is  no 
doubt  good  theoretical  ground  for  this 
contention,  and  it  is  frequently  found 
that  the  American  petroleum  oil  of 
commerce,  though  showing  no  trace  of 
the  presence  of  acid  when  shaken  with 
barium  chloride  solution,  is  blackened 
on  heating,  and  during  distillation  gives 
off  sulphur  dioxide.  It  is  not,  however, 
certain  that  in  the  practical  use  of  the 


71 

oil  any  distinct  disadvantage  can  clearly 
be  traced  to  the  action  of  the  opera- 
tion of  cracking,  and  it  is  obviously  to 
the  interest  of  the  poorer  classes,  who  so 
largely  use  petroleum  oil  as  a  source  of 
light  and  heat,  that  a  system  of  manu- 
facture which  considerably  increases  the 
yield,  and  therefore  diminishes  the  cost 
of  the  product,  should  not  be  hastily  con- 
demned. Moreover,  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  proportion  of  cracked 
oil  in  the  product  is  not  usually  very 
large,  and  therefore,  that  objections 
which  would  attach  to  the  use  of  the 
cracked  oil  alone  may  not  apply  to  the 
product  as  a  whole.  By  some  it  is  claimed 
that  distillation  of  the  burning  oil  over 
caustic  alkali  has  the  effect  of  removing 
the  substitution  products  formed  in  the 
acid  treatment.  The  burning  oils  chiefly 
manufactured  in  the  United  States  are  of 
the  following  grades:  110°  fire  test,  70° 
Abel  test ;  120°  fire  test,  73°  Abel  test ; 
150°  fire  test. 

The   color   of   the    first    four   grades 
usually  ranges  from  "  Prime  White  "  to 


72 


"  Standard  White  "  (straw  color  to  pale 
yellow),  while  the  fifth  grade  is  "  Water 
White "  (colorless).  The  rules  of  the 
New  York  Produce  Exchange  provide 
that  refined  petroleum  for  contract  pur- 
poses shall  be  standard  white  or  better, 
with  a  burning  test  of  110°  Fahrenheit, 
or  upwards,  and  a  specific  gravity  not  be- 
low 44°  Beaume,  United  States  Dispen- 
satory Standard  (not  above  .811  specific 
gravity).  Formerly  the  bulk  of  the  oil 
intended  for  export  was  refined  to  110° 
fire  test,  the  United  Kingdom,  however, 
taking  120°  fire  test  oil.  Since  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Abel  system  of  testing, 
however,  a  large  proportion  of  the  oil 
has  been  refined  to  a  test  of  70°  Abel  for 
shipment  to  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and 
of  73°  Abel  for  shipment  to  England. 
The  oil  of  150°  fire  test  is  considerably 
lower  in  specific  gravity  than  the  other 
grades  (say  .786  to  .793).  Oils  are  also 
specially  refined,  that  is,  made  to  stand 
special  tests,  where  so  required.  In 
addition  to  the  products  enumerated, 
an  oil  of  high  specific  gravity,  and  high 


73 


flashing  point,  intermediate  in  character, 
in  fact,  between  the  ordinary  burning 
oils  and  the  lubricating  oils,  is  made. 
This  oil  was  originally  produced  by  the 
Downer  Kerosene  Oil  Company  under 
the  name  of  mineral  sperm  oil,  for  use  in 
lighthouses,  and  its  use  is  now  compul- 
sory on  some  of  the  American  railroads. 
It  is  also  largely  used  on  board  ship.  Of 
this  oil,  as  now  manufactured,  the  crude 
petroleum  yields  about  10  per  cent.,  the 
product  having  a  specific  gravity  of  about 
.829,  and  a  fire  test  of  about  300°  F. 
(Flashing  point,  open  vessel,  about  270° 
F.;  closed  vessel,  about  240°F.).  This 
product  is  frequently  termed  mineral 
colza  oil,  or  mineral  seal  oil. 

The  number  of  grades  of  lubricating 
oil  manufactured  are  so  great,  and  their 
qualities  so  various,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
give  any  satisfactory  enumeration  of 
them.  The  oil  varies  in  color  from  yellow 
to  very  dark  red,  and  is  strongly  fluores- 
cent. 

The  solid  paraffine  (using  the  term  in 
its  commercial  sense)  is,  like  the  oil,  a 


74 


mixture  of  various  hydrocarbons  of  dif- 
ferent specific  gravities,  boiling  points, 
and  melting  points.  The  paraffine  scale 
separated  from  the  oil  of  .905  specific 
gravity  has  an  average  melting  point  of 
about  125°F.  (American  test),  and  that 
from  the  oil  of  .885  specific  gravity  a 
melting  point  of  about  117°  F. 

"  Paraffine  wax  "  is  a  white  or  bluish- 
white  translucent  waxy  solid  of  lamino- 
crystalline  structure,  devoid  of  taste  and 
smell.  The  hydrocarbons  of  which  it  is 
composed  are  characterized  by  chemical 
indifference;  hence  the  name  (parum 
affinis.)  The  specific  gravity,  melting 
point,  and  boiling  point  of  the  material 
vary  with  its  composition.  At  a  temper- 
ature below  its  melting  point  paraffine 
wax  becomes  plastic,  a  characteristic 
which  is  of  such  practical  inconvenience 
when  the  substance  is  used  as  candles, 
that  it  is  the  practice  in  candle  making 
to  add  a  small  quantity  of  stearic  acid, 
which  to  some  extent  diminishes  the  ten- 
dency of  the  candle  to  bend  in  a  warm 
room. 


75 


When  two  pieces  of  paraffine  wax  are 
struck  together,  a  sharp  metallic  sound 
is  emitted,  especially  if  the  melting  point 
of  the  specimen  be  high.  Exposed  for 
some  time  under  a  slight  pressure  to  a 
temperature  below  its  melting  point, 
paraffine  wax  undergoes  a  molecular 
change  and  becomes  transparent ;  but 
upon  a  change  of  temperature,  or  upon 
being  struck,  the  original  translucent  ap- 
pearance returns. 

Paraffine  wax  is  freely  soluble  in  petro- 
leum or  shale  oil  and  spirit,  in  ether,  in 
benzol,  and  in  essential  oils.  It  is  spar- 
ingly soluble  in  hot  absolute  alcohol,  but 
separates  on  cooling.  It  is  insoluble  in 
rectified  spirit  and  in  water. 

When  boiled  with  concentrated  nitric 
acid,  paraffine  is  oxidized  with  the  form- 
ation of  succinic  acid,  and  a  small  quan- 
tity of  butyric  acid.  Paraffine  is  also 
oxidized  when  heated  with  potassium  per- 
manganate and  sulphuric  acid.  At  a 
high  temperature  it  is  slowly  attacked 
by  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  and  chlo- 
rine passed  into  melted  paraffine  attacks 


76 

it  slowly.  When  heated  with  sulphur, 
paraffine  is  decomposed,  sulphuretted 
hydrogen  being  evolved  and  carbon  de- 
posited. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  crude  petro- 
leum is  exported  from  the  United  States 
to  France,  to  be  refined  there,  the  French 
duty  on  the  refined  oil  encouraging  the 
home  industry.  The  rules  of  the  New  York 
Produce  Exchange  provide  that  crude 
petroleum  shall  be  understood  to  be  pure 
natural  oil,  neither  steamed  nor  treated, 
free  from  water,  sediment  or  any  adulter- 
ation, and  of  the  gravity  of  43°  to  48° 
Beaume  (.816  to  .794  sp.  gr.). 

Crude  naphtha  and  residuum  are  also 
exported  in  comparatively  small  quanti- 
ties. The  naphtha  is  required  to  be  water- 
white  and  sweet,  and  of  gravity  from  68° 
to  73°  Beaume,  while  the  residuum  is  to 
be  understood  to  be  the  refuse  from  the 
distillation  of  crude  petroleum,  free  from 
coke  and  water,  and  from  any  foreign  im- 
purities, and  of  gravity  from  16°  to  21° 
Beaume  (.96  to  .93  sp.  gr.). 

Natural   and  reduced  lubricating  oils 


77 


(West  Virginia,  &c.)  are  sold  under  con- 
tract rules,  fixing  the  limit  of  setting 
point,  the  latter  oils  being  divided  into 
two  grades  termed  respectively  summer 
reduced  oil  and  winter  reduced  oil. 

Some  of  the  refineries  in  the  United 
States  are  of  great  size.  Thus  the  works 
at  Bayonne,  New  Jersey,  owned  by  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,  in  whose  hands 
the  greater  part  of  the  refining  trade  is 
concentrated,  covers  about  67  acres,  and 
is  capable  of  turning  but  from  10,000  to 
12,000  barrels  of  refined  oil  per  day.  At 
some  of  the  most  modern  works  the  plant 
is  for  the  most  part  uncovered  by  roof- 
ing. Precautions  are,  however,  taken 
against  the  spread  of  fire,  water  sprinklers 
and  steam  jets  being  fitted  to  the  storage 
tanks,  and  hydrants  being  provided.  At 
all  large  refineries  there  is  a  well- drilled 
fire  staff.  At  the  Bayonne  works  the 
fire  brigade  is  drilled  twice  a  month* 
and  four  fire  hoses  can  be  brought 
into  action  upon  a  tank  in  30  sec- 
onds, 1  minute  10  seconds,  1  minute 
twenty  seconds  and  1  minute  30  seconds 


78 


respectively  from  the  blpwing  of  the 
alarm  whistle,  three  of  the  hoses  being 
brought  some  distance.  At  the  works  of 
the  Pratt  Manufacturing  Company  there 
is  a  fire  wall  which  prevented  the  spread 
of  fire  from  a  burning  tank  some  time 
ago,  although,  according  to  the  evidence, 
the  fire  burned  with  great  fierceness  un- 
til all  of  the  oil  in  the  tank  had  been 
consumed,  and  the  wind  was  blowing 
towards  the  wall.  It  is  considered  that 
a  properly  protective  fire  wall  should  be 
five  feet  higher  than  the  tank  and  about 
ten  feet  distant  from  it. 

The  export  of  the  oil  has,  with  the 
exception  of  one  shipment,  hitherto 
taken  place  exclusively  in  "barrels  of 
the  size  mentioned,  or  in  tin  cans  of 
rectangular  form,  holding  five  American 
(or  four  Imperial)  gallons,  which  are 
packed  in  twos  in  wooden  cases.  The 
manufacture  of  the  barrels,  cans  and 
cases  is,  as  may  be  supposed,  a  very  im- 
portant business.  The  barrel  works  of 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  at  Bayonne 
are  capable  of  turning  out  10,000  to  12,- 


79 


000  barrels  per  day,  and  the  operation  of 
barrel  making  at  these  works  is  an  inter- 
esting one  to  witness.  The  oak  staves 
are  purchased  ready  jointed  and  sea- 
soned, in  Michigan,  and  the  barrel 
heads  are  brought  to  the  Bayonne 
works  ready  glued  up.  The  first 
operation  in  barrel  making  at  these 
works  consists  in  fitting  the  necessary 
number  of  staves  together  in  a  thick 
wrought-iron  ring  encircling  their  lower 
ends.  This  is  an  operation  requiring 
some  experience  and  judgment.  The 
embryo  barrel  is  then  placed  in  an  iron 
cylinder  and  steamed,  whereby  the  wood 
is  softened.  The  staves  are  next  encir- 
cled by  a  wire  rope  connected  with  an 
engine,  and  are  thus  bent  into  shape  and 
drawn  together,  a  second  strong  iron 
hoop  being  slipped  over  their  upper  ends 
to  hold  them  in  position.  The  barrel  is 
then  "  fired  "  by  burning  some  readily 
combustible  material  in  the  interior,  and 
the  curvature  of  the  staves  thus  rendered 
permanent.  A  number  of  extra  tem- 
porary iron  hoops  of  great  thickness  are 


80 

next  slipped  on,  and  drawn  toward  the 
bulge  of  the  barrel  by  means  of  an  ingen- 
ious arrangement  of  iron  hooks  or  claws 
actuated  by  steam  power.  The  final 
operation  performed  upon  the  staves  con- 
sists in  placing  the  barrel  in  a  lathe,  par- 
ing off  the  rough  ends,  and  cutting  the 
grooves  for  the  heads.  The  barrel  is  then 
ready  to  receive  the  heads,  and  to  be 
hooped.  The  hoops  weigh  collectively 
about  12  pounds,  and  the  total  length  of 
iron  required  for  a  set  is  443  \  inches,  so 
that  putting  the  out-turn  of  finished 
barrels  from  this  one  factory  at  10,000 
per  day,  we  have  a  length  of  about  70 
miles  of  hoop  iron  (weighing  about  55^- 
tons)  used  daily. 

In  order  to  render  the  barrels  capable 
of  holding  their  fluid  contents  without 
leakage,  they  are  coated  internally  with 
glue,  about  one  pound  of  glue  to 
3  barrels  being  required.  The  glue 
solution  is  poured  into  the  barrels  ot, 
the  barrel  bunged  up,  and  rotated  so  that 
the  solution  coats  the  entire  surface,  the 
surplus  being  afterwards  drained  out. 


81 

There  is  some  pressure  of  steam  in  the 
barrel  during  this  operation,  and  a  leak 
is  thus  at  once  shown.  The  barrels 
finally  receive  a  coating  of  the  well-known 
blue  paint  on  the  staves,  and  white  paint 
on  the  heads.  Old  barrels  returned  to 
be  refilled  are  often  cleaned  externally 
by  an  arrangement  of  rapidly  revolving 
wire  brushes,  are  steamed  out,  reglued 
and  repainted. 

Before  the  barrels  are  filled,  the  hoops 
require  "  driving  v  to  take  up  the  shrink- 
age of  the  wood.  This  was  formerly 
done  exclusively  by  hand,  but  Mr.  Hop- 
per has  invented  a  successful  machine  for 
doing  this  by  steam  power.  In  this  ap- 
paratus the  barrel  stands  on  a  platform 
arranged  like  an  inverted  steam  hammer, 
and  on  turning  on  the  steam  it  is  brought, 
with  a  succession  of  blows,  against  a  num- 
ber of  hinged  stops,  which  closely  en- 
circle the  barrel  and  on  which  the  hoops 
strike.  With  one  such  machine  the  hoops 
of  2,000  barrels  can  be  driven  in  ten  hours 
by  one  man  and  two  boys — an  amount  of 


82 


work  which  formerly  entailed  the  hand 
labor  of  ten  men. 

The  barrels  are  filled  from  a  rack  pro- 
vided with  a  series  of  pipes  connected 
with  a  barreling  tank.  Each  pipe  has 
at  its  exit  end  a  float  connected  with  a 
valve,  which  shuts  off  the  oil  when  the 
barrel  has  been  filled  to  within  one  gal- 
lon of  its  contents.  The  shives  with 
which  the  barrels  are  closed  are  of  wood 
and  are  put  in  with  glue.  A  package 
which  remains  perfectly  tight  and  free 
from  leakage  as  long  as  it  is  handled 
carefully,  and  the  continuous  skin  of  glue 
remains  intact,  is  thus  produced. 

The  can  of  petroleum  is  a  package 
standing  a  good  deal  of  rough  usage. 
The  empty  can  is  so  strong,  not- 
withstanding that  the  tin  plate  from 
which  it  is  made  is  thin,  that  a  full- 
sized  man  may  stand  upon  it  without 
crushing  it.  Cans  are  used  exclusively 
in  the  shipment  of  oil  to  warm  climates,, 
as  the  barrel,  though  less  expensive  per 
gallon  of  oil,  is  liable  to  become  leaky 
when  subjected  to  a  high  temperature. 


83 


Within  the  past  few  months  two  ves- 
sels, the  Crusader  and  the  Andromeda, 
have  been  fitted  with  tanks  for  the  con- 
veyance of  the  refined  burning  oil  in 
bulk.  The  former  vessel  is  provided 
with  an  arrangement  of  tanks  patented 
by  Mr.  L.  V.  Sone,  of  New  York.  The 
patent  specification  contains  twelve 
claims,  but  the  most  important  feature 
of  the  system  appears  to  be  the  provis- 
ion of  auxiliary  tanks  above  the  level  of  the 
storage  tanks  and  in  communication  with 
them.  The  storage  tanks  can  thus 
always  be  kept  quite  full  of  oil,  the  auxil- 
iary tanks  serving  to  hold  the  surplus 
when  the  contents  of  the  storage  tanks 
become  expanded  by  heat,  and  supplying 
the  deficiency  when  contraction  takes 
place.  The  tanks  with  which  the  Crusader 
is  fitted  are  of  boiler  plate,  cylindrical  in 
form,  of  various  sizes,  but  of  the  average 
capacity  of  125  barrels.  There  are  45 
tanks,  and  the  total  carrying  capacity  of 
the  vessel  is,  therefore,  about  5,500  bar- 
rels. All  the  tanks  are  connected  with  a 
steam  pump  on  deck,  by  means  of  which 


84 


they  can  be  charged  or  discharged  in 
about  ten  hours. 

About  a  month  after  the  Crusader  ar- 
rived in  London,  the  Andromeda  reached 
Bremen  with  a  cargo  of  684,641  Ameri-. 
can  gallons  of  petroleum  oil  in  bulk. 
This  vessel  contains  72  tanks,  which,  in- 
stead of  being  cylindrical,  are  principally 
rectangular.  Expansion  tanks  similar  to 
the  auxiliary  tanks  of  the  Crusader  are 
provided. 

The  only  special  feature  in  the  process 
of  refining  petroleum  in  Canada  is  the 
treatment  of  the  burning  oil  distillate 
with  a  solution  of  litharge  and  caustic 
soda  for  the  purpose  of  removing  sulphur. 
Notwithstanding  the  adoption  of  this 
process,  the  refined  petroleum,  or  burn- 
ing oil,  has  not,  however,  always  been 
free  from  this  impurity.  In  1876  a 
sample  of  Canadian  petroleum  oil  pro- 
duced a  deposit  of  a  bluish -black  color 
on  the  chimney  of  the  lamp  in  which  it 
was  burned.  On  examining  the  deposit 
small  beads  of  liquid  were  found  to  be 
deposited  where  the  glass  was  very  hot, 


85 


and  a  piece  of  litmus  paper  applied  to 
these  beads  was  reddened  and  then 
charred.  On  washing  out  the  chimney 
with  water,  and  adding  to  the  liquid  a 
solution  of  barium  chloride,  a  copious 
precipitate  was  produced.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  the  liquid  condensed  on  the 
glass  was  sulphuric  acid,  and  on  burning  a 
weighed  quantity  of  the  oil,  and  collecting 
the  products  of  combustion,  sulphur  was 
found  to  be  present  in  the  oil  to  the  ex- 
tent of  116  grains  per  gallon.  Another 
sample  of  Canadian  oil,  used  in  a  green- 
house to  the  detriment  of  the  plants, 
contained  119  grains  of  sulphur  to  the 
gallon. 

We  now  pass  to  the  consideration  of 
the  method -oLjcefining  and  transporting 
petroleum  oil  adopted  in  Russia.  Most 
of  the  Caucasian  refineries  are  situated 
in  the  Tchorni  Gorod  or  Black  Town  of 
Baku,  on  the  shores  of  the  Caspian. 
There  may  be  seen  refineries  of  all  sizes, 
the  smallest  being  constructed  and  man- 
aged in  a  primitive  fashion.  The  largest 
works  are  those  of  the  Nobel  Company, 


86 


an  organization  occupying  in  relation  to 
the  refining  of  Russian  petroleum,  a 
position  analogous  to  that  which  the 
Standard  Oil  company  holds  in  regard  to 
the  American  refining  trade.  The  works 
of  the  Nobel  Company  cover  from  78  to 
80  acres,  and  the  dwellings  of  the  em- 
ployes another  40  acres.  In  regard  to 
the  substantial  character  of  the  buildings 
and  completeness  of  the  arrangements, 
the  refinery  is  equal  to  any  in  the 
United  States.  The  only  essential 
respect  in  which  the  plant  differs 
from  that  described,  in  treating  of  the 
American  refineries,  is  in  the  adoption 
of  a  process  of  continuous  distilla- 
tion, the  stills,  each  of  the  capacity  of 
4,400  gallons,  being  arranged  in  groups 
or  series  of  not  more  than  twenty-five, 
and  a  stream  of  oil  continuously  flowing 
through  the  entire  number.  The  crude 
oil  entering  the  first  still  parts  with  its 
most  volatile  constituents,  passing  into 
the  next  still,  has  rather  less  volatile 
hydrocarbons  distilled  from  it,  and  finally 
flows  from  the  last  still  in  the  condition 


87 

of  residuum,  which  in  Russia  is  termed 
astatJd  or  masut.  The  several  stills  are 
maintained  at  temperatures  correspond- 
ing with  the  boiling  points  of  the  pro- 
ducts to  be  volatilized.  Attempts  have 
been  made  to  carry  on  a  system  of  con- 
tinuous distillation  of  petroleum  in 
America,  and  an  apparatus  for  the  pur- 
pose was  patented  in  the  United  States 
by  Stombs  and  Brace,  of  Newport,  Ken- 
tucky, April  10, 1860  (Patent  No.  27,842), 
but  the  process  has  never  been  practically 
employed  in  that  country.  Mr.  Ludwig 
Nobel  has  said  that  the  method  of 
continuous  distillation  adopted  in  his 
Tfrorks  was  specially  suited  to  Baku  petro- 
leum, the  quantity  of  burning  oil  sepa- 
rated being  comparatively  small,  and  the 
residuum,  therefore,  not  very  much  less 
fluid  than  the  crude  oil.  The  fuel  used 
under  all  the  stills  in  Baku  is  petroleum 
residuum  or  astatki.  At  many  of  the 
smaller  works,  the  liquid  fuel  is  simply 
allowed  to  flow  on  the  hearth  of  the  fur- 
nace, and  in  thus  using  it  a  very  large 
amount  of  dense  black  smoke  is  evolved  ; 


88 

but  in  the  larger  and  better  conducted 
refineries,  arrangements  are  adopted  for 
burning  the  fuel  with  a  proper  admix- 
ture of  air,  and  smokeless  combustion  is 
thus  obtained.  At  the  Nobel  refinery  the 
two  most  volatile  distilled  products  are  of 
specific  gravity  .754  and  .787  respectively, 
while  the  kerosene  (burning  oil)  has  a 
specific  gravity  of  .820  to  .822.  The 
more  volatile  products  are  largely  burned 
as  fuel,  as  there  is  little  demand  for  them,, 
and  in  fact  a  considerable  quantity  is 
burned  to  waste  in  order  to  get  rid  of  it, 
At  the  Nobel  works  the  kerosene  dis- 
tillate is  pumped  into  lead  lined  agitators- 
of  the  capacity  of  57,000  gallons,  wherer 
in  the  manner  already  described,  it  is 
treated  with  about  1£  per  cent,  of  sul- 
phuric acid,  washed  with  sea  water  (fresh 
water  being  very  scarce  in  Baku),  treated 
with  caustic  soda  solution,  and  washed 
again.  The  oil  then  passes  to  the  set- 
tling tanks,  and  is  afterward  stored  in 
large  tanks,  one  of  which  holds  1,500,000 
gallons.  The  whole  process  of  treatment 
occupies  15  to  16  hours.  The  sulphuric 


89 


acid  is  made  in  a  neighboring  factory  from 
sulphur  imported  from  Daghestan.  The 
oil  is  almost  superfine  white  in  color,  and 
has  an  average  flashing  point  of  about 
32°C.  (Abel  test.)  Of  such  product  the 
crude  oil  yields,  on  an  average,  only 
about  27  per  cent.,  and  of  oil  quite  free 
from  color,  or  water- white,  and  having  a 
flashing  point  of  50°  C.,  only  about  22  per 
cent,  can  be  obtained.  At  Baku,  the  Cas- 
pian Company  make  three  grades  of  burn- 
ing oil  of  the  respective  specific  gravities 
and  flashing  points  of  (1)  -815—30°  C.; 
(2)  -820-25°  C.,  (3)  -821/-822-220  0. 
Of  the  first  quality,  the  crude  oil  yielded 
20  per  cent.,  of  the  second  33  per  cent., 
and  of  the  third  38  per  cent.  The  yield 
of  burning  oil  from  Baku  petroleum  i& 
therefore  comparatively  very  small,  and 
to  this  the  fact  that  the  oil,  although  of  so 
high  a  specific  gravity,  burns  well  is  no 
doubt  partly  due,  since  the  product  is- 
necessarily  very  homogeneous,  the  most 
volatile  hydrocarbons  present  not  differ- 
ing very  greatly  in  boiling  point  from 
the  least  volatile  present.  Besides  this, 


90 

however,  the  hydrocarbons  of  which  the 
Baku  oil  is  composed  possess  apparently 
greater  power  of  ascending  the  wick  of 
the  lamp  by  capillary  attraction  than  is 
found  in  ordinary  American  oils.  Tak- 
ing ordinary  petroleum  lamp  wicks  of 
two  different  qualities,  and  using  them  as 
siphons,  in  a  given  time  the  following 
quantities  of  the  oils  enumerated  were 
removed  by  capillary  attraction  from  a 
vessel  into  which  the  wicks  dipped,  the 
conditions  of  the  test  being  the  same  in 
each  case ; 

Best      Inferior 

Wick.        Wick. 

grs.  grs. 

American  oil  ("  water-white  ").  205.0  ..  104.2 

Russian  oil  202.6  ..     94.2 

American  (ordinary) 146.0  .  .     69.7 

Eussian  oil  does  not  burn  equally  well 
in  all  the  forms  of  lamps  which  have  been 
constructed  for  use  with  the  American 
product,  but  as  the  result  of  a  large  am  ount 
of  comparative  photometrical  testing  of 
the  two  classes  of  oils  burning  in  lamps 
of  various  construction  during  the  past 
two  or  three  years,  taking  the  lamps  now 


91 

in  common  use  as  a  whole,  the  Russian  oil, 
though  giving  less  light  than  good  ordi- 
nary American  oil  at  the  commencement 
of  the  burning,  when  the  lamp  is  full  of 
oil  and  freshly  trimmed,  affords  a  flame 
of  somewhat  greater  permanence,  the 
light  emitted  in  the  burning  of  the 
American  oil  diminishing  to  a  greater 
extent  as  the  level  of  the  oil  in  the 
reservoir  becomes  depressed,  the  dif- 
ference being,  doubtless,  due  to  the 
greater  power  which  the  Russian  oil  has 
of  ascending  the  wick.  In  the  use  of 
Russian  oil,  however,  it  is  essential  that 
the  air  passages  in  the  burner  should  be 
quite  free  from  obstruction  by  dirt,  other- 
wise the  flame  will  receive  an  insufficient 
supply  of  oxygen,  will  be  of  comparative- 
ly feeble  luminosity,  and  will  be  liable  to 

smoke.     As  a  rule  the  Russian  oil  burns 

• 

better  in  a  flat- wick  burner  than  in  a 
round-wick  burner,  but  burners  of  the 
latter  class  are  now  being  constructed  in 
which  it  yields  a  good  flame. 

The  astatki,  or  residuum,  as  it  flows  from 
the  kerosene  still,  has  a  specific  gravity 


92 


of  about  .903,  and  is  chiefly  used  as  fuel. 
A  portion  of  it  is,  however,  converted 
into  lubricating  oil,  and  a  smaller  portion 
into  an  oil  or  oils  similar  to  the  "  mineral 
sperm  oil"  obtained  from  American 
petroleum.  Of  the  lubricating  oil  the 
residuum  yields  about  30  per  cent.,  and 
of  a  product  similar  to  the  American 
"  Mineral  Colza  "  oil,  about  12  per  cent. 
Messrs.  Ragosine  were  the  first  to  intro- 
duce an  oil  of  this  character  made  from 
Russian  petroleum.  This  oil,  which  is 
frequently  termed  "  pyronaphtha,"  as 
now  imported  into  England  has  a 
specific  gravity  of  about  .865,  a  fire  test 
of  265°  F.,  and  a  flashing  point  of  about 
230°  F.  open  test,  or  205°  F.  closed  test. 
This  oil,  like  the  similar  American  pro- 
duct, has  not  hitherto  been  much  used 
for  domestic  purposes,  as  the  lamps  in- 
tended to  burn  it  did  not  give  a  satis- 
factory light.  Lamps  are  now,  however, 
being  introduced  which  burn  it  well. 

The  lubricating  oil  distillates  obtained 
from  Baku  petroleum  differ  from  the 
American  products  in  containing  little 


93 

or  no  solid  hydrocarbons,  the  greatest 
quantity  obtainable  amounting  only  to 
a  quarter  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  crude 
oil.  In  the  island  of  Tcheleken  there  is, 
however,  petroleum  to  be  obtained  which 
yields  as  much  as  6  per  cent,  of  paraffine. 

This  absence  of  solid  hydrocarbons  de- 
prives the  Baku  refiner  of  a  source  of 
profit  possessed  by  the  American  refiner, 
but  on  the  other  hand  enables  him  to 
make  cheaply  a  lubricating  oil  which 
bears  exposure  to  a  very  low  temperature 
without  becoming  solidified  or  even  de- 
positing any  paraffine.  Professor  Dewar 
has  suggested  that  the  products  of  Baku 
petroleum  may  be  distinguished  from 
those  of  American  petroleum  by  exposing 
them  to  a  temperature  sufficiently  low  to- 
cause  the  separation  of  the  solid  hydro- 
carbons which  are  held  in  solution  at 
common  temperatures. 

The  lubricating  oils  manufactured  by 
Messrs.  Kagosine  include  the  following: 

Extra  heavy  cylinder  oil,  sp.  gr.  .920. 

Cylinder  and  valve  oil,  sp.  gr.  .912/.915. 

Engine  machinery  oil,  sp.  gr.  .905/.907. 


94 


Dark  cylinder  oil,  sp.  gr.  .918/.920. 

Russian  lubricating  oils  are  character- 
ized by  the  possession  of  great  viscosity 
in  relation  to  specific  gravity,  but  the  vis- 
cosity of  the  Russian  oils  is  more  affected 
by  a  rise  in  temperature,  a  feature  which 
is  undoubtedly  a  disadvantage,  but  in  the 
case  of  both  classes  of  oils  the  greater 
the  viscosity  the  greater  the  diminution 
in  viscosity  as  the  temperature  is  raised. 

When  paraffines  are  heated  to  tempera- 
tures above  their  boiling  points  dissocia- 
tion occurs  and  olefines  are  produced  : 


C7H16  +  C13H,C,  &c. 

At  a  very  high  temperature  hydrocarbons 
containing  still  less  hydrogen  are  pro- 
duced. This  well  known  fact  has  been 
taken  advantage  of  by  Mr.  Nobel  to  man- 
ufacture from  Russian  petroleum  resid- 
uum, or  astatki,  benzine,  naphthalene 
and  anthracene.  The  process  employed 
consists  in  breaking  up  the  astatki  on  the 
highly  heated  floor  of  a  cupola  regenera- 
tive furnace.  The  first  destructive  dis- 


95 

VISCOSITIES  OF   RUSSIAN   AND  AMERICAN  OILS. 


Temper- 
ature. 
Fahr. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

50 

712J 

145 

425 

1030  2040 

2520 

60 

5402 

105  !295£ 

680 

1235  1  19801 

— 

70 

405 

90  J225 

485 

820 

1320 

— 

80 

326 

73  171 

375 

580 

900 

— 

90 

260 

63* 

136 

262 

426 

640 

— 

100 

213* 

54" 

111 

200 

315 

440 

1015 

110 

169 

50 

89* 

153 

226 

335 

739^ 

120 

147 

47 

78' 

126 

174 

245 

531 

130 

123J 

44} 

63i 

101 

135J 

185 

398J 

140 

105i 

41 

58 

82 

116 

145 

317£ 

150 

95* 

37J 

52 

70* 

05 

115 

2£Q 

160 

85" 

— 

46 

63* 

93* 

200 

170 

76 

— 

— 

58" 

70i 

77} 

161 

180 

69 

— 

— 

62J 

Wf 

67* 

134* 

190 

64^ 

— 

— 

47 

56^ 

61" 

115| 

200 

58| 

— 

— 

42 

48* 

54 

99^ 

210 

54 

— 

— 

40 

—  " 

— 

85 

220 

50 



— 

38 

— 

77 

230 

4.7.1 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

70£ 

240 

45* 





— 

— 



G4£ 

250 

43! 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

59£ 

260 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

54 

270 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

48£ 

280 

—  1  — 

— 

— 

— 

— 

46^- 

290 

— 

— 

— 

—  :  — 

— 

44^ 

300 

— 

— 

— 

—   — 

— 

42| 

1.  Refined  rape  oil. 
2.  American  mineral  oil,  sp.  «r.  .855 

3.     "      «           .913 

4.           '            .923 

5.  Russian                .909 

6.           4            .915 

7.     "      '            .884* 

"  Semi-solid  at  common  temperatures 


96 


tillation  thus  effected  is  stated  to  yield 
from  30  to  40  per  cent,  of  tar  containing 
from  15  to  17  per  cent,  of  50  per  cent, 
benzol.  By  a  second  destructive  distilla- 
tion of  the  heavy  oils  remaining  after  the 
separation  of  the  benzol,  70  per  cent,  of 
tar  is  obtained,  containing  from  7  to  10 
per  cent,  of  5  per  cent,  benzol,  16  per 
•cent,  of  naphthalene,  2  to  3  per  cent,  of 
•"  dry  green  grease  "  (or  30  per  cent,  an- 
thracene), and  24  per  cent  of  pitch.  There 
is  also  obtained  in  the  process  75  to  100 
cubic  feet,  per  c.  f.  of  astatki,  of  gas 
having  an  illuminating  power  described 
as  five  times  that  of  coal-gas. 

We  have  already  seen  that  American 
petroleum  oil  is  principally  transported 
in  barrels  and  cases.  As,  however,  suit- 
able timber  for  barrel  making  is  scarce 
in  Russia,  Mr.  Nobel  found  it  necessary 
to  devise  some  other  n:ethod  of  distribut- 
ing the  oil,  and  great  credit  attaches  to 
him  for  the  admirable  system  of  bulk 
transportation  he  has  organized.  The 
oil  is  pumped  from  the  refineries  at  Baku 
into  tank  steamers  on  the  Caspian  sea. 


97 

These  steamers,  which  were  constructed 
at  Motala,  in  Sweden,  are  about  250  feet 
in  length  by  28  feet  beam,  and  have  a 
draft  of  water  when  loaded  of  10  to  12 
feet.  The  whole  of  the  forward  portion 
of  the  vessel  forms  one  great  tank,  the 
engines  and  boilers  are  amidships,  and  two 
cylindrical  tanks  are  placed  aft.  The  os- 
cillation of  the  oil  in  the  forward  tank  is 
prevented  by  bulkheads.  The  tanks 
hold  collectively  225,000  gallons  (5,500 
barrels),  and  can  be  filled  in  4£  hours. 
The  fuel  used  for  steam  generation  is 
petroleum  residuum,  29  tons  being  con- 
sumed on  the  voyage  from  Baku  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Volga,  a  distance  of  about 
460  miles.  The  engines  are  of  120  horse- 
power nominal,  and  the  mean  speed  of 
the  vessels  10  knots  per  hour.  Several 
tank  steamers  have  recently  been  con- 
structed for  the  shipment  of  petroleum 
oil  in  bulk  from  Batoum  to  ports  on  the 
Black  sea,  the  Baltic  and  elsewhere. 
These  vessels  are  built  on  the  principle 
of  the  boilers  and  engines  being  placed 
in  the  stern,  and  the  oil  storage  tanks 


98 


forward.  Two  bulkheads  with  water  be- 
tween prevent  the  possibility  of  any  oil 
finding  its  way  into  the  boiler  space. 
The  steamers  are  constructed  through- 
out of  Bessemer  steel,  and  have  been 
favorably  classed  at  Lloyds. 

In  the  tank  steamers  described,  the  oil 
is  conveyed  to  mouth  of  the  Volga, 
where,  in  consequence  of  the  water  being 
shallow,  it  is  transferred  to  tank  barges, 
in  which  it  is  carried  to  Tsaritsin,  an  im- 
portant storage  center  on  the  Volga,  364 
miles  from  the  point  at  which  the  steam- 
ers discharge.  At  Tsaritsin  the  oil  is 
pumped  into  tank  wagons  (similar  to 
those  used  in  America)  on  the  Tsaritsin- 
Griazi  railway,  and  thus  finds  its  way  to 
a  large  number  of  storage  centers 
throughout  Russia.  From  these  centers 
the  oil  is  distributed  in  barrels  which  can 
easily  be  returned  to  be  refilled. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  the  oil  is 
also  conveyed  from  Baku  to  Batoum,  on 
the  Black  Sea,  over  the  Trans- Caucasian 
railway,  in  tank  wagons,  a  distance  of 
560  miles,  but  the  carrying  capacity  of 


99 


this  line  is  only  about  one  million  and  a 
half  of  barrels  per  annum,  in  consequence 
of  its  being  carried  over  a  pass  (the 
Suram  Pass)  3,000  feet  above  sea  level, 
where  the  gradient  is  in  places  as  much 
as  1  in  22.  It  is  contemplated  to  largely 
increase  the  carrying  capacity  of  the  line 
by  tunneling  the  pass,  and  it  has  also 
been  proposed  to  lay  a  pipe  line  from 
Baku  to  Batoum.  In  the  meantime, 
however,  arrangements  are  being  com- 
pleted to  fully  utilize  the  existing  facili- 
ties by  shipping  the  oil  from  Batoum  in 
tank  steamers,  and,  as  the  Volga  naviga- 
tion is  closed  in  winter,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  Trans  Caucasian  route  will  be 
largely  made  use  of. 

In  the  following  table  the  varied  yield 
of  commercial  products  is  shown  : 


o— : 

£5    --( 

rz:  oo  oo  oq  oo  oo      oo          oq  oq      co  QO 

o 

bC 
g 

OH  ^  O,    £  £<    G  a 

J3 

00  ^>  *O  TH    CO    GQ  ^    O  iO    »  "^  CQ ' 
OB 

I 

I 

t>OOOOOqoO°OC5O:;QOCtOOOOCiOOt-Oi<; 

.    .     ......;  o : 

^ '05  bp      i   *   i   i   '  os   '   '   *^ 
r-T52  .'O        !**» 

tZ    53  .S  J       "02 

**'*.'§   ?  *  S 

'  g     **  *5 


101 

We  now  enter  upon  the  consideration 
of  the  process  of  manufacturing  the 
various  commercial  products  from  shale. 
True  shales,  when  heated  to  redness  in 
a  closed  vessel,  do  not  cake,  so  that  the 
soft  and  black  residue,  after  all  the 
volatile  matter  has  been  driven  off,  re- 
tains the  original  form  of  the  fragments. 
The  proportion  of  mineral  matter  in  the 
shale  is  usually  73  per  cent.,  but  is  occa- 
sionally as  much  as  80  percent. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  the  industry  two 
methods  of  distillation,  one  intermittent 
and  the  other  continuous,  were  employed. 
In  the  former  system,  which  was  that 
first  adopted,  the  shale,  previously 
broken  into  fragments  of  suitable  size, 
was  heated  in  cast-iron  retorts,  similar 
to  those  employed  in  coal-gas  manu- 
facture, the  retorts  being  discharged  and 
recharged  when  the  whole  of  the  vola- 
tilizable  matters  had  been  driven  off. 
The  latter  system  was  conducted  in  a 
cylindrical  or  oval  retort  of  cast  iron, 
about  2  feet  in  diameter  by  8  feet  or  10 
feet  in  length,  set  vertically  in  a  furnace. 


102 

In  this  vessel  the  shale,  previously 
broken  by  machinery,  was  exposed  to  a 
dull  red  heat  for  twelve  to  twenty  hours ; 
a  jet  of  steain  being  introduced  at  the 
bottom  of  the  retort,  and  the  products 
conducted  from  the  top.  The  steam  was 
employed  to  sweep  away  the  products  as 
formed,  and  prevent  their  dissociation  by 
over-heating.  The  furnace  was  so  con- 
structed that  the  lower  part  of  the  retort 
received  the  greatest  heat,  and  from  time 
to  time  a  portion  of  the  exhausted  shale 
was  removed  from  the  bottom  of  the  re- 
tort, which  was  sealed  with  water,  and  a 
corresponding  quantity  of  fresh  shale 
was  introduced  at  the  top ;  the  process 
being  thus  continuous.  By  this  process 
about  33  gallons  of  crude  oil  and  80 
gallons  of  ammoniacal  liquor  per  ton  of 
shale  were  obtained,  the  latter  being 
large  in  volume  and  of  low  strength,  in 
consequence  of  the  condensation  of  the 
steam  employed. 

The  method  of  distillation  devised  by 
Mr.  Henderson  differs  principally  from 
the  intermittent  system  already  described, 


103 

in  the  retorts  being  vertical,  and  in  the 
provision  of  an  arrangement  for  employ- 
ing as  fuel  the  spent  shale,  which  some- 
times contains  as  much  as  12  to  14  per 
cent,  of  carbon.  The  retorts  are,  in  this 
system,  placed  in  an  oven  above  the 
furnace.  They  are  about  15  feet  in 
length,  and  hold  about  18  cwt.  of  shale. 
The  bottom  of  the  retort  consists  of  a 
door,  which  can  be  opened  so  as  to  allow 
the  spent  shale  to  drop  into  a  combus- 
tion chamber  beneath  the  oven.  The 
material,  as  it  is  discharged  from  the 
retort,  is  black,  but  it  soon  becomes  in- 
candescent, and  aided  by  the  incondensa- 
ble gaseous  products  of  distillation  (oc- 
casionally also  by  the  addition  of  a  small 
quantity  of  coal),  it  constitutes  a  valuable 
fuel.  In  this  system  of  distillation  the 
upper  part  of  the  retort  is  the  most 
highly  heated,  and  the  products  are  re 
moved  from  the  bottom,  a  stream  of 
superheated  steam  being  passed  in  at  the 
top.  There  are  four  retorts  in  each 
oven,  and  each  retort  is  charged  once  in 
sixteen  hours ;  but  the  charging  takes 


104 

place  in  rotation  at  intervals  of  four  or 
five  hours,  so  that  a  regular  supply  of 
fuel  is  furnished  to  the  combustion 
chamber  below. 

Although,  in  the  meantime,  the  older 
method  of  intermittent  distillation  had 
been  improved,  it  is  generally  admitted 
that  the  introduction  of  the  Henderson 
retort  resulted  in  an  increased  yield  of 
paraffine. 

The  retort  invented  by  Messrs.  William 
Young  and  George  Beilby,  the  Pentland 
pattern  of  which  is  now  also  largely  in 
use,  is  composite,  the  upper  part  being 
of  iron,  and  the  lower  of  fire  brick.  In 
this  apparatus  the  shale  is  exposed  to  a 
comparatively  low  temperature  while  in 
the  iron  portion — the  oil  products  being 
thus  driven  off  without  risk  of  their  being 
overheated — and  then  passing  down- 
wards into  the  more  highly  heated  fire 
brick  portion,  in  consequence  of  the 
withdrawal  of  a  portion  of  the  spent 
material,  is  subjected  to  a  heat  suitable  for 
the  formation  of  the  ammonia.  Steam  is 
passed  into  the  retort  at  the  base.  The 


105 

retorts  are  set  in  groups  of  four,  aiul 
usually  are  heated  through  the  medium 
of  a  gas  producer  instead  of  by  an  ordi- 
nary open  furnace.  By  this  method  of 
distillation  the  yield  of  paraffine  is  in- 
creased, while  the  gain  of  sulphate  of 
ammonia  is  stated  to  be  no  less  than  14 
Ibs.  per  ton  of  shale. 

The  oil  vapors  are  condensed  by  being 
passed  through  a  series  of  70  to  100  ver- 
tical 4  inch  pipes. 

Crude  shale  oil  is  of  a  dark  green  color, 
and  has  a  specific  gravity  of  .865  and  up- 
wards. The  first  step  in  the  process  of 
refining  consists  in  the  distillation  of  the 
oil  to  dryness  in  cast-iron  pot- shaped 
stills,  into  which  steam,  often  super- 
heated, is  passed,  the  product  being 
condensed  in  the  manner  already  de- 
scribed when  treating  of  the  distillation 
of  petroleum.  The  oil  having  been 
treated  with  sulphuric  acid  and  caustic 
soda,  these  processes  being  termed 
"washing,"  is  next  subjected  to  frac- 
tional distillation  in  cylindrical  boiler- 
plate stills  of  a  capacity  of  4,000  to  5,000 


106 

-gallons.  Steam  is  introduced  into  the 
stills  after  the  more  volatile  products 
have  passed  off.  The  first  product  ob- 
tained is  crude  naphtha,  and  at  a  higher 
temperature  the  burning  oil  distillate 
issues  from  the  condensers  and  is  col- 
lected separately.  The  heavy  oil  which 
remains  is  distilled  in  cast-iron  vessels. 
The  burning  oil  distillate  thus  produced 
is  subjected  to  acid  and  alkali  treatment, 
and  undergoes  a  second  fractional  dis- 
tillation, an  additional  quantity  of  naph- 
tha being  separated,  and  some  heavy  oil 
remaining  in  the  still.  The  burning  oil 
distillate  then  passes  through  a  third 
chemical  treatment  and  distillation,  and 
is,  in  some  cases,  finally  agitated  with 
acid  and  alkali,  and  thoroughly  washed. 
The  crude  naphtha  receives  the  usual 
chemical  treatment,  and  is  separated  by 
fractional  distillation  into  commercial 
products.  From  the  heavy  oil,  lubrica- 
ting oils  are  manufactured,  and  parafime 
separated  and  purified  substantially  as  in 
the  case  of  the  similar  petroleum  pro- 
ducts. It  was  formerly  the  practice  to 


107 

crystallize  the  paraffine  rapidly,  by  bring- 
ing the  heavy  oil  into  contact  with  the 
surface  of  a  revolving  drum  through 
which  cooled  calcium  chloride  solution 
was  made  to  circulate,  the  paraffine  ad- 
hering to  the  cool  surface  being  scraped 
off  and  removed.  Mr.  Henderson,  and 
subsequently  Mr.  Beilby,  however,  pat- 
ented systems  of  slow  cooling  in  con- 
siderable bulk,  as  adopted  in  petro- 
leum refineries  in  the  United  States. 
Various  other  systems  have  been  adopted 
at  Addiewell  and  Bathgate  for  the  slow 
cooling  of  the  oil  containing  paraffine,  it 
being  now  generally  recognized  that  the 
production  of  large  crystals  of  paraffine 
resulting  from  this  method  of  working 
facilitates  the  expression  of  the  oil,  and 
effects  a  saving  in  press  cloths.  From 
the  gaseous  products  passing  away 
through  the  condensers  crude  gasoline  is 
obtained,  by  a  process  of  scrubbing  with 
heavy  oil  in  a  coke  tower,  or  by  subject- 
ing the  gas  to  pressure.  The  crude 
gasoline  passes  through  a  similar  process 


108 

of  purification  to  that  which  the  crude 
naphtha  undergoes. 

From  the  intermediate  oils,  burning* 
oils  of  high  specific  gravity  and  flashing 
points  are  obtained. 

Without  going  minutely  into  details  of 
manufacture,  which  are  by  no  means  the 
same  at  all  works,  an  intelligible  out- 
line description  of  the  comparatively 
lengthy  and  complicated  process  by 
which  the  various  shale  products  are 
obtained  is  here  given.  In  practice  the 
various  similar  distillates  obtained  in  the 
intermediate  operations  are  mixed  to- 
gether, the  process,  as  a  whole,  having  for 
its  object  to  classify  the  various  hydrocar- 
bons by  successive  fractional  distillations. 
It  should  be  stated  that  the  crude  shale 
oil  yield,  in  addition  to  the  products  enu- 
merated, acid  and  basic  bodies. 

At  the  works  of  Young's  Paraffine 
Light  and  Mineral  Oil  Company,  the  fol- 
lowing is  the  average  yield  of  the  various 
commercial  products  from  the  crude 
shale  oil :  — 


109 

Per  cent. 

Gasoline 0.25 

Naphtha— sp.  gr.  .700  to  .760 5.75 

Burning  oils  : —  ~] 

No.  1,  sp.  gr.  .802  to  .804,  F.P. 

110°  (Abel  test) 

No.  2,  sp.  gr.  .810  to  .812,  F.P. 

100°  (Abel  test) f 

Crystal  (No.  1,  chem.  treated). . .    I 
Lighthouse  oil,  sp.  gr.  .810  to  .820  I 

F.P.  140°  (Abel  test) j 

Lubricating    oils  of    various    specific 

gravities 14.50 

Paraffine  (solid) 11.00 

Loss 30.50 


100.00 


The  percentages  given  are  only  ap- 
proximate, and  are  often  purposely  varied 
by  alterations  of  the  processes  to  suit 
the  requirements  of  the  markets.  The 
loss  is  no  doubt  frequently  considerably 
smaller  than  the  proportion  stated. 

At  the  Broxburn  works  the  average 
yield  is  as  follows : — 


110 

Per  cent. 

Naphtha— sp.  gr.  .730. , , 5  00 

Burning  oils: — 

Petroline— sp.  gr.  .800/.802 "1 

No.  1,  oil-sp.  gr.  .808/.810 ^  37.28 

Lighthouse  oil — sp.  gr.  .810 j 

Lubricating  oils 17.40 

Solid  paraffine 12.52 

Loss..                                 27.80 


100.00 

Mr.  Alfred  H.  Allen,  in  his  "Commer- 
cial Organic  Analysis,"  asserts  that  shale- 
burning  oil  contains  about  36  per  cent., 
by  measure,  of  paraffines,  and  64  per 
cent,  of  olefines  and  other  hydrocarbons 
acted  on  by  fuming  nitric  acid  ;  while  in 
American  refined  petroleum  (burning  oil) 
these  proportions  are  reversed  ;  and  he 
gives  the  following  comparative  state- 
ment, based  upon  the  relative  percent- 
ages, by  measure,  of  hydrocarbons  present 
in  the  various  commercial  products  which 
withstand  a  consecutive  treatment  with 
nitric  acid,  1.45  specific  gravity,  concen- 
trated sulphuric  acid,  fuming  sulphuric 
acic,  and  caustic  soda ;  remarking,  how- 


Ill 

ever,  that  the  quantitative  composition  is 
liable  to  considerable  variation,  and  hence 
must  not  be  interpreted  too  literally:* — 

NAPHTHA. 

From  Shale.— At  least  60  to  70  per 
cent,  of  heptylene,  C7H14,  and  other  hy- 
drocarbons of  the  olefine  series,  CnH2n. 
The  remainder  paraffines,  CnH2n+2.  No 
trace  of  benzine  or  its  homologues. 

From  Petroleum. — At  least  70  per 
cent  of  heptane,  C7H16,  and  other  hydro- 
carbons of  the  paraffine  series,  CnH2n+2. 
The  remainder  apparently  olefines^  with 
distinct  traces  of  benzine,  CCH6,  and  its 
homologues. 

BURNING   OIL. 

From  /Shale. — 50  to  80  per  cent,  or 
more,  of  the  higher  members  of  the 
olefine  series,  CnH2n.  The  remainder 
paraffines,  CnH2n+a. 

*  In  regard  to.the  burning  oil  made  from  American 
petroleum,  the  proportion  of  olefines  present  depends 
upon  the  extent  to  which  the  process  of  "cracking  " 
has  been  adopted,  as  already  explained. 


112 

From  Petroleum. — 50  to  80^  per  cent, 
of  the  higher  members  of  the  paraffin e 
series,  CnH2n4_2.  The  remainder  chiefly 
olefines,  CnH2ll. 

LUBRICATING   OIL. 

From  Shale. — Chiefly  olefines,  CnH2n? 
with  some  polymerized  members  of  acety- 
lene series,  CnH2n_2. 

From  Petroleum. — A  large  proportion 
of  higher  olefines,  CnH2n ;  but  less  than  in 
corresponding  shale  product. 

VASELINE. 

From  Shale. — No  such  product. 
From  Petroleum. — Chiefly  higher  par- 
affines  of  low  melting  point. 

PARAFFINE   WAX. 

From  Shale. — Solid  paraffines, 

CDH,n+a. 
From  Petroleum. — Solid  paraffines, 

UnHan+a. 

Instead  of  acting  on  the  olefines  by 
nitric  and  sulphuric  acids  as  described, 


113 

bromine  may  be  used  to  effect  their 
separation  from  the  paraffines,  and  a  pro- 
cess of  analysis  based  upon  this  fact  has 
been  devised  by  Mr.  Allen. 

Mr.  J.  J.  Coleman  found  that  the 
liquid  obtained  on  subjecting  the  gase- 
ous products  of  shale  distillation  to  cold 
and  pressure,  consisted  chiefly  of  ole- 
fines: — Butylene,  C4H8 ;  amylene,  C5HIO ; 
and  hexylene,  C6H12. 

The  following  results,  obtained  by  Mr. 
Galletly  with  paraffine  from  Boghead 
coal,  show  that  the  specific  gravity  of 
this  product  increases  with  its  melting 
point : — 

Specific  gravity.  Melting  point. 

.8236 89.6°  F. 

.8480 1022° 

.8520 104.9° 

.9090 128.0^ 

.9110 128.0° 

.9243 136-4° 

.9248 138.2° 

.9400 176.0° 

The  ozokerite,  separated  by  melting 
from  the  earthy  matter  with  which  it  is 
associated,  and  purified  by  treatment  with 


114 

Nordhausen  oil  of  vitriol,  has  a  deep 
yellow  color,  and  in  that  condition  is 
stated  to  be  used  as  an  adulterant  of 
beeswax.  To  obtain  a  material  suitable 
for  candle  making,  it  has,  however, 
hitherto  been  necessary  to  subject  the 
ozokerite  to  distillation  in  a  current  of 
super-heated  steam,  the  products  being 
about  5  per  cent,  of  gaseous  hydrocar- 
bons, 3  per  cent,  of  naphtha,  6  per  cent. 
of  semi-solid  "ozokerine,"  12  per  cent,  of 
soft  paraffine  (melting  point  44^  to  46° 
C.),  distilled  ozokerite  (melting  point 
61°  C.),  and  a  black  waxy  residue.  The 
grayish  colored  distilled  ozokerite  thus 
obtained  is  refined  by  a  process  similar 
to  that  which  paraffine  from  petroleum 
or  shale  undergoes.  The  refining  of 
ozokerite  is  carried  out  on  a  large  scale 
by  Messrs.  J.  C.  and  J.  Field. 

About  the  time  when  Mr.  James  Young 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  shale  oil 
industry,  Mr.  Eeece  Keece  and  Sir  Robert 
Kane  were  working  upon  Irish  peat,  and 
Sir  Frederick  Abel  has  stated  that  in 
1851  or  1852  he  saw  some  small  candles 


((UNIVEKSIT1 
115 


made  from  peat  paraffine.  According  to 
Dr.  Edmund  J.  Mills,  peat  furnishes  from 
3  to  6  per  cent,  of  tar,  the  specific  gravity 
of  which  is  about  .954,  and  Vohl  states 
that  peat  tar  yields,  on  the  average,  about 
20  per  cent,  of  burning  oil  (specific 
gravity  .82),  and  about  22  per  cent,  of 
lubricating  oil.  The  percentage  of  par- 
affine appears  to  vary  considerably,  as  it 
is  placed  by  different  writers  at  from  0.1 
per  cent,  to  3.4  per  cent. 

It  will  be  interesting  at  this  point  to 
consider,  briefly,  the  extent  of  the  world's 
consumption  of  mineral  illuminating  oils. 
We  find  that  the  estimated  total  out-turn 
by  all  the  refineries  in  the  United  States, 
for  the  year  ended  December  31,  1885, 
was  732,650,628  American  gallons,  or 
14,365,698  barrels  of  51  American  gallons 
(equal  to  about  40  imperial  gallons).  The 
approximate  home  consumption  in  the 
United  States  amounted  to  about  253,- 
665,075  American  gallons,  or  4,973,825 
barrels;  and  the  quantity  exported  was 
5,381,099  barrels,  and  17,254.611  cases, 
collectively  equal  to  446,982,159  Ameri- 


116 

can  gallons.  The  detailed  shipping  sta- 
tistics give  the  respective  quantities  for 
the  year  1885  as  6,985,637  barrels,  and 
16,528,844  cases,  a  discrepancy  which 
may  be  due  to  differences  in  dates.  On 
the  latter  basis,  the  total  gross  weight  of 
the  barrels  would  be  1,222,486  tons.  If 
piled  six  high,  as  they  commonly  are 
when  stored,  the  barrels  would  cover  a 
space  of  about  half  a  square  mile,  and  if 
placed  end  to  end  would  extend  for  a 
distance  of  3,638  miles.  The  tin-plate 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  the  cases 
amounts  to  nearly  38,502  tons,  and  would 
cover  more  than  five  square  miles  and 
431  acres. 

The  burning  oil  manufactured  in  Baku 
during  the  year  1885,  amounted  to  27,- 
000,000  poods,  equal  to  118,800,000  im- 
perial gallons.  Of  this,  about  17,000,000 
poods  were  consumed  in  Russia,  and 
about  5,000,000  poocls,  equal  to  22,000,- 
000  gallons,  were  exported,  leaving  a 
balance  of  5,000,000  poods  in  stock  at 
the  end  of  the  year.  We  have  thus  a 
total  of  over  700,000,000  gallons  of  burn- 


117 

ing  oil  manufactured  per  annum  in  the 
United  States  and  Kussia  ;  to  this  the 
similar  products  manufactured  at  the  re- 
fineries on  the  continent  of  Europe  and 
in  Scotland  have  to  be  added. 

We  have  seen  that  petroleum  consists 
of  a  mixture  of  hydrocarbons,  varying  in 
volatility,  and  that  the  line  of  demarka- 
tion  between  petroleum  spirit  and  petro- 
leum oil  is  a  purely  arbitrary  one,  there 
being  but  little  difference  between  the 
inflammability  of  the  least  volatile  hydro- 
carbon present  in  the  spirit  and  the  most 
volatile  in  the  oil  on  the  one  hand,  and 
between  the  most  volatile  hydrocarbon 
present  in  the  still  heavier  product  and 
the  least  volatile  in  the  oil  on  the  other 
hand.  The  presence  of  too  large  a  pro- 
portion of  the  denser  products  prevents 
the  oil  from  burning  freely ;  while  the 
presence  of  an  undue  proportion  of  the 
hydrocarbons  of  lower  boiling  point  ren- 
ders the  oil  unsafe  for  use  in  ordinary 
mineral  oil  lamps.  At  an  early  period  in 
the  development  of  the  mineral  oil  in- 
dustry, attention  was  accordingly  directed 


118 

to  the  necessity  of  drawing  such  lines  of 
demarkatioii  as  would  insure  the  supply 
to  the  consumer  of  an  oil  of  satisfactory 
character.  The  specific  gravity  of  the 
product  was  found  to  afford  a  sufficient 
indication  of  the  amount  of  the  denser 
hydrocarbons  present,  but  not  of  the  in- 
flammability of  the  product,  since  a  per- 
centage of  the  more  volatile  hydrocar- 
bons, too  small  to  materially  alter  the 
specific  gravity  of  the  oil,  was  found  to 
be  sufficient  to  produce  an  inflammable 
atmosphere  in  the  oil  reservoir  of  the 
lamp.  It  was,  therefore,  obviously  neces- 
sary to  apply  a  special  test  to  determine 
the  inflammability  of  the  liquid.  The 
earliest  attempts  in  this  direction  took 
the  form  of  pouring  the  oil  on  to  water 
heated  to  a  given  temperature,  passing  a 
light  over  the  surface,  and  noting  wheth- 
er the  oil  evolved  inflammable  vapor  or 
itself  ignited,  the  temperature  at  which 
the  oil  first  gave  off  enough  vapor  to 
ignite  being  termed  its  "  flashing  point," 
and  that  at  which  it  caught  fire  its  "  fire 
test." 


119 

After  some  years  of  experience,  it  was 
found  that  the  testing  of  the  oil  in  an 
open  cup  was  attended  with  certain  dis- 
advantages, and  various  forms  of  closed 
cup  were  introduced. 

The  greater  number  of  the  petroleum 
testing  instruments  employed  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  and  all  those  whose  use  is  pre- 
scribed by  law  may  be  divided  into  the 
two  classes  referred  to,  viz.,  those  which 
have  an  open  cup  and  those  in  which  the 
oil  cup  is  provided  with  a  cover,  and  the 
use  of  instruments  of  the  latter  class  is 
largely  on  the  increase.  It  has  also  been 
proposed,  however,  to  determine  the  in- 
flammability of  the  oil  by  noting  the  ten- 
sion of  its  vapor  at  a  given  temperature, 
and  various  forms  of  apparatus  have 
been  devised  with  this  object,  but  since 
there  is  no  definite,  or  at  any  rate  no 
simple  relation  between  vapor  tension 
and  inflammability,  this  method  of  test- 
ing has  not  found  favor. 

Of  the  forms  of  open  cup  tester,  that 
which  is  known  as  Tagliabue's  has  been 
very  largely  used  for  many  years.  The 


120 

apparatus  consists  of  a  glass  cup  contain- 
ing the  oil,  placed  in  a  water  bath  heated 
by  means  of  a  small  spirit  lamp.  A  ther- 
mometer is  suspended  in  the  oil,  and  the 
temperature  noted  at  which  on  passing 
a  burning  splinter  of  wood  across  the 
surface  of  the  oil  either  a  flash  of  ignited 
vapor  is  obtained,  or  the  oil  itself  takes 
fire.  The  ignition  of  the  oil  is  always  pre- 
ceded by  a  flash,  but  the  number  of 
degrees  of  temperature  through  which 
the  oil  must  be  raised  between  its  flash- 
ing and  igniting  varies  according  to  the 
character  of  the  oil. 

The  English  Petroleum  Act,  passed  on 
the  29th  July,  1862,  provided  that  "  Pe- 
troleum for  the  purposes  of  this  Act  shall 
include  any  product  thereof  that  gives  off 
an  inflammable  vapor  at  a  temperature 
of  less  than  100°  of  Fahrenheit's  ther- 
mometer," but  as  the  method  of  testing 
was  not  described,  the  Act  was  practically 
inoperative.  On  the  13th  July,  1868,  an 
amending  Act  was  passed,  defining  "  pe- 
troleum "  for  the  purposes  of  the  Acts  as 
including  "all  such  rock  oil,  Ban  goon 


121 

oil,  Burmah  oil,  any  product  of  them, 
and  any  oil  made  «from  petroleum,  coal, 
schist  shale,  peat,  or  other  bituminous 
substance,  and  any  product  of  them,  as 
gives  off  an  inflammable  vapor  at  a  tem- 
perature of  less  than  100°  of  Fahrenheit's 
thermometer."  Appended  to  the  Act  was 
a  schedule  prescribing  the  form  of  appa- 
ratus and  method  of  testing  to  be  adopted. 
This  apparatus  consists  of  a  slightly  conical 
oil  cup  of  thin  sheet  iron,  provided  with  a 
flat  rim,  and  a  raised  edge,  £-inch  high. 
Across  the  cup,  and  fixed  to  the  edge,  is 
a  wire,  which  is  thus  J-inch  above  the  flat 
rim.  The  oil  cup  is  supported  by  the 
rim  in  a  tin  water  bath.  The  water 
bath  having  been  filled  "with  cold,  or 
nearly  cold,"  water,  the  oil  cup,  support- 
ed as  described,  was  filled  with  the  oil  to 
be  tested,  care  being  taken  that  the 
liquid  did  not  cover  the  flat  rim.  A 
thermometer  with  a  round  bulb,  and  so 
graduated  that  every  10°F.  occupied  not 
less  than  J  inch  on  the  scale,  was  then 
placed  in  the  oil  so  that  the  bulb  was 
immersed  about  1  inches  beneath  the 


122 

surface.  A  screen  of  pasteboard  or  wood 
of  specified  dimensions  was  then  placed 
round  the  apparatus,  and  a  "small  flame" 
applied  to  the  bottom  of  the  water  bath. 
When  the  temperature  reached  90°  F.,  a 
"  very  small  flame "  was  passed  across 
the  surface  of  the  oil  on  a  level  with  the 
wire,  this  application  of  the  test  flame 
being  repeated  for  every  rise  of  "  two  or 
three  degrees  "  in  temperature  until  a 
"  pale  blue  flicker  or  flash  "  was  produced. 
The  temperature  was  then  noted,  and  the 
experiment  repeated  with  a  fresh  sample 
of  the  oil,  withdrawing  the  source  of  heat 
when  the  temperature  approached  that 
noted  in  the  first  experiment,  and  apply- 
ing the  test  flame  at  every  rise  of  two 
degrees.  Various  modifications  of  the 
open  vessel  tester  have  been  devised, 
especially  in  the  United  States. 

Arnaboldi's  apparatus  is  similar  to 
Tagliabue's,  but  is  of  larger  size,  and  in 
one  form  has  an  adjustable  mechanical 
arrangement  for  applying  the  test  flame 
at  a  prescribed  distance  from  the  surface. 
Messrs.  Lockwood  Brothers  and  Holly's 


123 

apparatus  is  provided  with  an  independ- 
ent oil  lamp,  by  means  of  which  a  test 
flame  can  be  moved  across  the  testing 
cnp  at  any  required  height  above  tbe  oil 
surface.  In  Mr.  George  M.  Saybolt's 
testing  apparatus,  which  was  a  few  years 
ago  adopted  by  the  New  York  Produce 
Exchange,  the  ignition  of  tbe  vapor  is 
effected  by  means  of  an  electric  spark. 

Tbe  greater  part  of  the  earlier  petro- 
leum legislation  in  the  United  States  was 
based  upon  fire  test  and  not  upon  flash- 
ing point ;  and  the  present  rules  of  the 
New  York  Produce  Exchange  recognize 
no  other  test  as  the  basis  of  commercial 
transactions  in  petroleum  oil,  but  in 
many  of  the  States  the  petroleum  laws 
now  prescribe  a  test  of  flashing  point. 

One  of  the  earliest  forms  of  closed  ves- 
sel testers  is  that  of  Tagiiabue.  This  is 
provided  with  a  brass  oil  cup  with  a 
cover,  attached  to  which  is  a  spring  valve 
and  dwarf  chimney.  Tbe  opening  of  this 
valve  and  the  simultaneous  passing  of  a 
small  flame  into  the  chimney  through  a 
lateral  orifice  determines  a  current  of  air 


124 

through  the  upper  part  of  the  oil  cup, 
which  sweeps  out  the  inflammable  vapor 
and  brings  it  into  contact  with  the  flame. 
In  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  the  tester 
has  a  copper  oil  cup  with  a  copper- 
cover,  provided  with  a  small  orifice  to 
which  the  test  flame  is  applied.  The 
present  New  York  State  tester  is  precise- 
ly similar  to  that  last  described,  except 
that  the  oil  cup  is  of  large  size  and  has  a 
glass  instead  of  a  copper  cover  to  the  oil 
cup.  The  closed  vessel  tester  employed 
in  Austria  is  similar  in  principle  to  Tag- 
liabue's.  Parrish's  naphthometer  used 
in  Holland  is  provided  with  a  stationary 
flame,  fed  by  the  oil  in  the  testing  cup. 
The  Foster  tester  is  similar  in  principle. 
In  Millspaugh's  tester  the  oil  cup  is  of 
glass,  and  is  immersed  only  to  the  extent 
of  one- tenth  of  its  depth  in  the  water 
bath,  the  object,  apparently,  being  to 
prevent  the  overheating  of  the  surface  of 
the  oil.  Mann's  tester  represents  an  at- 
tempt to  reproduce  in  the  testing  appa- 
ratus the  conditions  which  prevail  in  an 
ordinary  petroleum  lamp,  the  burner  of 


125 

the  lamp  being  replaced  by  a  tube,  the 
stopper  of  which  is  blown  out,  when, 
upon  the  introduction  of  a  flame  through 
a  lateral  opening,  ignition  of  the  vapor 
occurs.  In  Pease's  closed  tester  the 
vapor  is  ignited  by  an  electric  spark. 

Professor  Arthur  H.  Elliott,  of  New 
York,  has  recently  made  a  large  number 
of  comparative  experiments  with  the 
various  instruments  described,  and  has 
embodied  the  results  in  a  report  to  the 
New  York  State  Board  of  Health. 

About  the  year  1870,  a  closed  tester 
with  electric  spark  arrangement  was  in 
use  by  the  late  Dr.  Letheby  in  his* 
laboratory  at  the  London  Hospital » 
The  oil  cup  was  of  glass,  and  was  pro- 
vided with  a  hinged  metal  cover,  which 
was  blown  open  when  the  vapor  was  ig- 
nited by  the  spark. 

Dr.  Attfield  has  recommended  that  the 
flashing  point  should  be  taken  by  warm- 
ing the  oil  in  a  test-tube,  and  inserting  a 
flame  into  the  mouth  of  the  tube. 

A  Petroleum  Bill,  which  sought  to 
amend  the  law  in  several  very  desir- 


126 

able  respects,  was  introduced  into  Par- 
liament in  1871,  but  in  consequence 
mainly  of  the  test  standard  being  fixed 
at  a  point  (85°  F.)  which  was  higher 
than  the  equivalent  of  the  existing  test 
standard,  the  bill  was  opposed  by  the 
petroleum  trade,  and  the  proposal  to 
change  the  method  of  testing  withdrawn. 
The  bill  passed  on  the  llth  of  August  in 
that  year,  repealing  the  two  previous  acts 
but  prescribing  the  open  test.  In  the 
following  year  the  subject  of  testing  was 
investigated  by  a  select  committee  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  a  great  deal  of  evi- 
dence was  taken,  but  no  satisfactory  con- 
clusion was  arrived  at. 

At  this  period  the  position  of  the  petro- 
leum-testing question  in  England  was 
by  no  means  promising.  It  had  been 
found  that  the  existing  legal  directions 
for  testing  were  not  sufficiently  precise  ; 
the  results  obtained  differing  greatly,  ac- 
cording to  the  interpretation  of  the  ex- 
pression "  small  flame,"  as  applied  to  the 
source  of  heat ;  and  "  very  small  flame," 
as  applied  to  the  test  flame ;  the  officials 


127 

employed  by  the  local  authorities  fre- 
quently condemned  oil  that  had  been 
passed  by  independent  and  unbiased  ex- 
perts acting  on  behalf  of  the  traders ; 
and  retailers  had  thus  no  means  of  pro- 
tecting themselves  from  the  risk  of  being 
fined  for  selling  oil  flashing  below  the 
legal  standard.  Accordingly,  with  the 
concurrence  and  approval  of  the  Metro- 
politan Board  of  Works,  and  of  the 
Petroleum  Association,  Sir  Frederick  Abel 
was  requested  by  the  Government  to  un- 
dertake the  investigation  of  the  subject 
of  petroleum  testing,  with  the  object  of 
devising  a  satisfactory  test.  The  out- 
come of  Sir  Frederick  Abel's  long  and 
painstaking  experimental  inquiry,  in 
which  Dr.  Kellner  rendered  valuable  as- 
sistance, was  the  adoption  by  Parliament, 
on  the  llth  of  August,  1879,  of  what  is  now 
so  well  known  as  the  Abel  test.  The  in- 
strument and  its  use  are  thus  described 
in  the  Schedule  of  the  1879  Petroleum 
Act: 


128 

SPECIFICATION    OF    THE    TEST    APPARATUS. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the 
details  of  the  apparatus  : — The  oil  cup 
consists  of  a  cylindrical  vessel  2  inches 
in  diameter,  2^  inches  high  (internal), 
with  outward  projecting  rim  T5¥  inch 
wide,  f  inch  from  the  top,  and  1^  inches 
from  the  bottom  of  the  cup.  It  is  made 
of  gun  metal  or  brass  (17  B.  W.  G.) 
tinned  inside.  A  bracket,  consisting  of  a 
short,  stout  piece  of  wire  bent  upwards, 
and  terminating  in  a  point,  is  fixed  to  the 
inside  of  the  cup  to  serve  as  a  gauge. 
The  distance  of  the  point  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  cup  is  1^  inches.  The  cup  is 
provided  with  a  close-fitting  overlapping 
cover  made  of  brass  (22  B.  W.  G.),  which 
carries  the  thermometer  and  test  lamp. 
The  latter  is  suspended  from  two  sup- 
ports from  the  side,  by  means  of  trun- 
nions upon  which  it  may  be  made  to  os- 
cillate ;  it  is  provided  with  a  spout,  the 
mouth  of  which  is  one-sixteenth  of  an 
inch  in  diameter.  The  socket  which  is 
to  hold  the  thermometer  is  fixed  at  such 


129 

an  angle,  and  its  length  is  so  adjusted 
that  the  bulb  of  the  thermometer  when 
inserted  to  full  depth  shall  be  1£  inches 
below  the  center  of  the  lid. 

The  cover  is  provided  with  three 
square  holes,  one  in  the  center  -fa  inch 
by  -fa  inch,  and  two  smaller  ones,  fa 
inch  by  -fa  inch,  close  to  the  sides, 
and  opposite  each  other.  These  three 
holes  may  be  closed  and  uncovered  by 
means  of  a  slide  moving  in  grooves,  and 
having  perforations  corresponding  to 
those  on  the  lid. 

In  moving  the  slide  so  as  to  uncover 
the  holes,  the  oscillating  lamp  is  caught 
by  a  pin  fixed  in  the  slide,  and  tilted  in 
such  a  way  as  to  bring  the  end  of  the 
spout  just  below  the  surface  of  the  lid. 
Upon  the  slide  being  pushed  back  so  as 
to  cover  the  holes,  the  lamp  returns  to 
its  original  position. 

Upon  the  cover,  in  front  of  and  in  line 
with  the  mouth  of  the  lamp,  is  fixed  a 
white  bead,  the  dimensions  of  which  rep- 
resent the  size  of  the  test  flame  to  be 
used. 


130 

The  bath  or  heated  vessel  consists  of 
two  flat-bottomed  copper  cylinders .  (24 
B.  W.  G.),  an  inner  one  of  3  inches  diame- 
ter and  2J  inches  high,  and  an  outer  one 
of  5^  inches  diameter  and  5f  inches 
high  ;  they  are  soldered  to  a  circular 
copper  plate  (20  B.  W.  G.)  perforated  in 
the  center,  which  forms  the  top  of  the 
bath,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  enclose  the 
space  between  the  two  cylinders,  but 
leaving  access  to  the  inner  cylinder.  The 
top  of  the  bath  projects  both  outwards 
and  inwards  about  f  of  an  inch,  that  is, 
its  diameter  is  about  -|  inch  greater 
than  that  of  the  body  of  the  bath, 
while  the  diameter  of  the  circular  open- 
ing in  the  center  is  about  the  same 
amount  less  than  that  of  the  inner  copper 
cylinder.  To  the  inner  projection  of  the 
top  is  fastened,  by  six  small  screws,  a  flat 
ring  of  ebonite,  the  screws  being  sunk 
below  the  surface  of  the  ebonite,  to  avoid 
metallic  contact  between  the  bath  and  the 
oil  cup.  The  exact  distance  between  the 
sides  and  bottom  of  the  bath  and  of  the 
oil '  cup  is  one  half  an  inch.  A  split 


131 

socket  similar  to  that  on  the  cover  of  the 
oil  cup,  but  set  at  a  right  angle,  allows  a 
thermometer  to  be  inserted  into  the 
space  between  the  two  cylinders.  The 
bath  is  further  provided  with  a  funnel,  an 
overflow  pipe  and  two  loop  handles. 

The  bath  rests  upon  a  cast-iron  tripod 
stand,  to  the  ring  of  which  is  attached  a 
copper  cylinder  or  jacket  (24  B.  W.  G.) 
flanged  at  the  top  and  of  such  dimensions 
that  the  bath,  while  firmly  resting  on 
the  iron  ring,  just  touches  with  its  pro- 
jecting top  the  inward  turned  flange. 
The  diameter  of  this  outer  jacket  is  6£ 
inches.  One  of  the  three  legs  of  the 
stand  serves  as  a  support  for  the  spirit 
lamp  attached  to  it  by  means  of  a  small 
swing  bracket.  The  distance  of  the  wick 
holder  from  the  bottom  of  the  bath  is 
1  inch. 

Two  thermometers  are  provided  with 
the  apparatus,  the  one  for  ascertaining  the 
temperature  of  the  bath,  the  other  for 
determining  the  flashing  point.  The 
thermometer  for  ascertaining  the  tem- 
perature of  the  water  has  a  long  bulb 


132 

and  a|space  at  the  top.  Its  range  is  from 
about  90°  to  190°  Fahrenheit.  The 
scale  (in  degrees  of  Fahrenheit)  is 
marked *on  an  ivory  back  fastened  to  the 
tube  in  the  usual  way.  It  is  fitted  with 
a  metal  collar  fitting  the  socket,  and  the 
part  of  the  tube  below  the  scale  should 
have  a  length  of  about  3^  inches  meas- 
ured from  the  lower  end  of  the  scale 
to  the  bulb.  The  thermometer  for  ascer- 
taining the  temperature  of  the  oil  is  fitted 
with  collar  and  ivory  scale  in  a  similar 
manner  to  the  one  described.  It  has  a 
round  bulb,  a  space  at  the  top,  and 
ranges  from  about  55°  Fahr.  to  150° 
Fahr. ;  it  measures  from  end  of  ivory 
back  to  bulb  2£  inches. 


DIRECTIONS    FOR    APPLYING    THE    FLASHING 
TEST. 

1.  The  test  apparatus  is  to  be  placed  for 
use  in  a  position  where  it  is  not  exposed 
to  currents  of  air  or  draughts. 

2.  The  heating  vessel  or  water  bath  is 
filled  by  pouring  water  into  the  funnel 


133 

until  it  begins  to  flow  out  at  the  spout  of 
the  vessel.  The  temperature  of  the 
water  at  the  commencement  of  the  test 
is  to  be  130°  Fahrenheit,  and  this  is 
attained  in  the  first  instance  either  by 
mixing  hot  and  cold  water  in  the  bath,  or 
in  a  vessel  from  which  the  bath  is  filled, 
until  the  thermometer  which  is  provided 
for  testing  the  temperature  of  the  water 
gives  the  proper  indication  ;  or  by  heat- 
ing the  water  with  the  spirit  lamp  (which 
is  attached  to  the  stand  of  the  apparatus) 
until  the  required  temperature  is  indi- 
cated. 

If  the  water  has  been  heated  too  highly, 
it  is  easily  reduced  to  130°  by  pouring  in 
cold  water  little  by  little  (to  replace  a 
portion  of  the  warm  water)  until  the 
thermometer  gives  the  proper  reading. 

When  a  test  has  been  completed,  this 
water  bath  is  again  raised  to  130°  by 
placing  the  lamp  underneath,  and  the  re- 
sult is  readily  obtained  while  the  petro- 
leum cup  is  being  emptied,  cooled,  and 
refilled  with  a  fresh  sample  to  be  tested. 
The  lamp  is  then  turned  on  its  swivel 


134 

from  under  the  apparatus,  and  the  next 
test  is  proceeded  with. 

3.  The  test  lamp  is  prepared  for  use  by 
fitting-   it   with   a   piece    of   flat   plaited 
candle  wick,  and  filling  it  with  colza  or 
rape   oil  up   to  the  lower  edge  of  the 
opening  of  the  spout  or  wick  tube.     The 
lamp  is  trimmed,  so  that  when  lighted  it 
gives  a  flame  of  about  0.15  of  an  inch 
diameter,  and  this  size  of  flame,  which  is 
represented  by  the  projecting  white  bead 
on  the  cover  of  the  oil  cup,  is  readily 
maintained  by  simple  manipulation  from 
time  to  time  with  a  small  wire  trimmer. 

When  gas  is  available,  it  may  be  con- 
veniently used  in  place  of  the  little  oil 
lamp,  and  for  this  purpose  a  test-flame 
arrangement  for  use  with  gas  may  be 
substituted  for  the  lamp. 

4.  The  bath  having  been  raised  to  the 
proper  temperature,  the  oil  to  be  tested 
is   introduced   into    the   petroleum  cup, 
being  poured  in  slowly  until  the  level  of 
the  liquid  just  reaches  the  point  of  the 
gauge  which   is   fixed   in   the   cup.     In 
warm  weather  the   temperature   of   the 


135 

room  in  which  the  samples  to  be  tested 
have  been  kept  should  be  observed  in  the 
first  instance,  and  if  it  exceeds  65°,  the 
samples  to  be  tested  should  be  cooled 
down  (to  about  60°)  by  immersing  the 
bottles  containing  them  in  cold  water,  or 
by  any  other  convenient  method.  The 
lid  of  the  cup,  with  the  slide  closed,  is 
then  put  on,  and  the  cup  is  placed  into 
the  bath  or  heating  vessel.  The  ther- 
mometer in  the  lid  of  the  cup  has  been 
adjusted  so  as  to  have  its  bulb  just  im- 
mersed in  the  liquid,  and  its  position  is 
not  under  any  circumstances  to  be  altered. 
When  the  cup  has  been  placed  in  the 
proper  position,  the  scale  of  the  ther- 
mometer faces  the  operator. 

5.  The  test  lamp  is  then  placed  in 
position  upon  the  lid  of  the  cup,  the  lead 
line  or  pendulum,*  which  has  been  fixed 
in  a  convenient  position  in  front  of  the 
operator,  is  set  in  motion,  and  the  rise  of 
the  thermometer  in  the  petroleum  cup  is 


*  The  pendulum  should  be  24  inches  in  length  from 
the  point  of  suspension  to  the  center  of  gravity  of  the 
weight. 


136 

watched.  When  the  temperature  has 
reached  about  66°,  the  operation  of  test- 
ing is  to  be  commenced,  the  test  flame 
being  applied  once  for  every  rise  of  one 
degree,  in  the  following  manner : — 

The  slide  is  slowly  drawn  open  while 
the  pendulum  performs  three  oscillations, 
and  is  closed  during  the  fourth  oscilla- 
tion. 

NOTE. — If  it  is  desired  to  employ  the 
test  apparatus  to  determine  the  flashing 
points  of  oils  of  very  low  voLitibilifcy,  the 
mode  of  proceeding  is  to  be  modified  as 
follows  : — The  air-chamber  which  sur- 
rounds the  cup  is  filled  with  cold  water 
to  a  depth  of  1^-  inches,  and  the  heating 
vessel  or  water  bath  is  filled  as  usual,  but 
also  with  cold  water.  The  lamp  is  then 
placed  under  the  apparatus  and  kept 
there  during  the  entire  operation.  If  a 
very  heavy  oil  is  being  dealt  with,  the 
operation  may  be  commenced  with  water 
previously  heated  to  120°,  instead  of  with 
cold  water. 

By  no  means  the  easiest  part  of  Sir 
Frederick  Abel's  task  was  the  determina- 


137 

tion  of  the  equivalent  test  standard,  since 
the  Abel  instrument  furnishes  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule  that  the  flashing  point  of 
a  given  sample  of  mineral  oil  is  far  lower 
in  a  closed  than  in  an  open  vessel,  and  it 
was  therefore  necessary  to  deal  with  the 
conflicting  views  already  referred  to,  as 
to  the  proper  mode  of  conducting  the 
test  with  the  open  cup  instrument,  in 
order  to  determine  the  equivalent  stand- 
ard. Eventually,  as  the  outcome  of  joint 
experiments,  it  was  ascertained  that  the 
difference  between  the  results  afforded 
by  the  open-cup  instrument  and  the  Abel 
tester  ranged  from  25°  to  to  29°  Fahr. 
Taking  the  mean  difference  of  27°,  the 
new  standard  was  accordingly  fixed  at 
73°  Fahr. 

There  are  yet  some  other  systems  of  test- 
ing to  be  described.  In  1882,  Braun,  of 
Berlin,  patented  a  magnetic  pendulum  ar- 
rangement for  applying  the  test  flame  in 
the  Abel  apparatus.  In  1881,  Engler  and 
Haas  made  a  number  of  experiments 
with  the  Abel  apparatus  and  other  testing 
instruments,  and  expressed  the  opinion 


138 

that  the  addition  of  an  arrangement  for 
agitating  the  oil  was  desirable.*  They 
based  their  opinion  apparently  upon  the 
facts  that  in  all  the  closed  testers  there 
is  during  the  operation  a  layer  of  vapor 
of  gradually  increasing  thickness  formed 
upon  the  surface  of  the  oil ;  that  conse- 
quently no  two  apparatus  will  give  con- 
cordant results  unless  the  size  and  shape 
of  the  oil  cup,  the  height  to  which  the 
cup  is  filled,  the  rate  of  heating,  the  dis- 
tance from  the  surface  of  the  oil  at  which 
the  test-flame  is  applied,  the  size  of  the 
test-flame,  the  dimensions  of  the  orifices 
in  the  cover,  and  other  conditions  are  the 
same ;  and,  further,  that  since  the  tem- 
perature of  the  oil  is  not  uniform  through- 
out, the  position  of  the  thermometer  bulb 
must  be  precisely  defined.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  with  the  use  of  a  mechanical 
arrangement  for  agitating  the  oil  and  the 
air  in  the  cup,  results  less  dependent 
upon  the  conditions  enumerated  are  ob- 
tained, but  since  all  the  standard  ineasure- 

*  Victor  Meyer  is  stated  to  have  been  the  first  to 
propose  the  addition  of  a  stirrer. 


139 

ments  are  most  carefully  adhered  to, 
and  the  position  of  the  thermometer 
bulb  is  prescribed,  the  objections  to  the 
apparatus  are  not  valid,  and  it  is  quite 
possible  that  the  use  of  a  stirrer  might  in 
practice  be  found  to  introduce  some  ele- 
ment of  error.  Liebermann  has  recom- 
mended the  blowing  of  air  through  the  oil 
during  the  process  of  testing,  and  Beil- 
stein  devised  an  apparatus,  based  upon 
this  principle,  which  consisted  of  a  glass 
cylinder  to  hold  the  oil,  with  a  tube  pass- 
ing to  the  bottom,  and  furnished  with  a 
rose  jet.  At  intervals,  air  was  forced 
through  the  jet  at  a  rate  sufficient  to 
raise  a  foam  of  a  prescribed  depth  upon 
the  surface  of  the  oil,  and  the  test-flame 
was  at  the  same  time  applied.  Stoddard 
subsequently  suggested  a  modification  of 
Beilstein's  apparatus,  in  which  the  rose 
jet  was  replaced  by  a  glass  tube  drawn 
out  to  a  small  orifice. 

Bernstein's  tester  is  constructed  on  the 
principle  of  gradually  heating  the  oil 
until  a  temperature  is  reached  at  which, 
on  raising  the  level  of  the  oil,  vapor  is 


140 

forced  out  of  the  testing  chamber,  and 
ignited  at  a  stationary  flame.  Ehrenberg 
has  proposed  to  use  a  syringe  to  expel 
the  vapor  from  the  closed  testing  cup, 
and  thus  bring  it  into  contact  with  a 
flame. 

Of  apparatus  in  which  the  flashing 
point  of  the  oil  is  only  determined  in- 
ferentially  by  noting  the  vapor  tension, 
the  best  known  is  the  Salleron-Urban 
instrument,  which  is  used  to  some  extent 
in  France. 

In  a  table  published  in  1866,  Salleron 
and  Urban  give  the  following  figures  of 
specific  gravity  and  vapor  tension  of 
petroleum  products  at  15°  C. : — 

Density  at  15°  C.  Tension  in  mm.  of  water. 

.812 0 

.797 5 

.788 15 

.772 40 

.762 85 

.756 125 

.735 410 

.695 930 

.680 1,185 

.650  2,110 


141 

In  the  United  States  there  is  found'con- 
siderable  diversity  of  opinion  among  au- 
thorities as  to  the  method  of  testing  and 
the  standard  to  be  selected,  and  almost 
all  the  States  have  adopted  different 
legislation  in  these  principles.  When 
petroleum  was  first  introduced  in  that 
country  as  an  illuminant,  it  was  often 
used  carelessly  and  improperly,  and  many 
accidents  occurred.  An  exaggerated  es- 
timate of  the  risk  involved  in  the  use  of 
the  oil  was  thus  formed,  and  laws  were 
then  passed,  which,  in  some  instances, 
were  so  stringent  that  they  could  not  be 
enforced.  Moreover,  recent  experiments 
by  Sir  F.  Abel  and  others,  in  Eng- 
land, and  by  the  officials  of  the  Normal 
Eichungs  Kommission  in  Berlin,  have 
shown  that  an  oil  of  high  flashing  point 
may,  in  some  cases,  be  actually  less  safe 
than  one  of  lower  flashing  point.  The 
experience  of  several  years  has  demon- 
strated that  the  proper  use  of  an  oil  of 
comparatively  low  flashing  point  (say 
70°  Abel  test)  is  free  from  danger,  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  authorities 


142 

in  the  United  States  are  beginning  to 
realize  that  their  petroleum  laws  would 
t>e  rendered  far  more  effective  for  the 
protection  of  the  public  by  the  substitu- 
tion of  more  moderate  test  require- 
ments. 

Petroleum  legislation  in  this  country 
has  hitherto  been  confined  to  those  prod- 
ucts which  give  off  an  inflammable  vapor 
below  the  legal  limit.  Exception  has, 
however,  been  taken  to  this  by  the 
Metropolitan  Board  of  Works,  who  con- 
tend that  between  oil  which  flashes  at 
72°,  and  oil  which  flashes  at  73°,  there 
can  be  no  practical  difference  in  regard 
to  inflammability.  In  advancing  this 
view,  however,  it  appears  to  have  been 
forgotten  that  since  the  liquids  which 
flash  below  the  standard  can  only  be 
stored  and  sold  in  comparatively  small 
quantities,  and  under  troublesome  re- 
strictions, the  practical  effect  of  such 
legislation  is  that  elaborate  precautions 
are  adopted  to  insure  that  all  the  burning 
oil  imported  has  a  flashing  point  not 
below  the  limit;  the  only  liquid  dealt 


143 

with  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
the  Acts  being  petroleum  spirit  (benzo- 
line  and  gasoline).  Placing  of  the  sale  of 
burning  oil  (flashing  not  below  73°  F.) 
under  legislative  restrictions  would  be  to 
obliterate,  to  some  extent,  the  distinction 
which  the  present  laws  have  created. 
Moreover,  there  are  probably  no  grounds 
for  supposing  that  petroleum  oil  consti- 
tutes a  dangerous  article  in  the  ordinary 
stock  of  an  oilman.  On  the  contrary,  there 
is  a  good  deal  of  evidence  in  support 
of  the  opposite  view.  Thus,  to  take  one 
instance  only,  in  the  case  of  one  of  the 
most  recent  fires  at  an  oilman's  shop 
almost  the  only  portion  of  the  con- 
tents of  the  shop  which  had  escaped  de- 
struction were  three  barrels  of  petroleum 
oil,  constituting,  according  to  the  evi- 
dence given,  the  whole  stock  of  this 
material  on  the  premises  at  the  time  of 
the  fire.  These  barrels  were  a  good  deal 
charred,  but  still  held  a  considerable 
quantity  of  oil.  Petroleum  is,  in  fact,  a 
far  less  dangerous  liquid  than  is  com- 
monly supposed,  as  was  pointed  out 


144 

some  years  ago,  and  again  last  year,  by 
Sir  Frederick  Abel  in  lectures  at  the 
Koyal  Institution.  Statistics  show  that 
the  destruction  of  petroleum-laden  ships 
by  fire  is  very  rare,  and  at  least  one  case 
is  on  record  where  a  vessel  carrying 
petroleum  having  been  set  on  fire  by 
lightning,  the  fire  was  extinguished  and 
the  cargo  brought  safely  into  port. 
Many  barrels  discharged  from  the  ves- 
sel in  question  bore  evidence  of  the 
heat  to  which  they  had  been  subjected, 
being  in  some  cases  so  much  charred  that 
a  penknife  blade  could  be  driven  through 
the  staves,  and  yet  these  barrels  still  held 
the  oil  intact. 

Inconsequence,  partly,  of  the  expressed 
views  of  the  Metropolitan.  Board  of 
Works,  a  Petroleum  Bill  was  introduced 
by  the  Government  in  1883  to  place  the 
storage  and  sale  of  petroleum  oil  under 
legal  restrictions  ;  but  the  measure  was 
practically  condemned  by  a  Select  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Lords,  and  was 
withdrawn.  Subsequently  Colonel  Ma- 
j  en  die,  her  Majesty's  Chief  Inspector  of 


145 

Explosives,  made  a  visit  to  Germany,  Aus- 
tria, France,  Belgium,  and  Holland,  for 
the  collection  of  information  in  regard  to 
petroleum  legislation  in  those  countries. 
In  a  memorandum  issued  in  1884,  Colo- 
nel Majendie  set  forth  the  result  of  his 
observations  and  inquiries,  the  informa- 
tion he  collected  being  supplemented  by 
particulars  obtained  from  consular  re- 
ports and  other  sources.  The  result  of 
the  inquiry  showed  that  in  all  the  princi- 
pal countries  of  Europe  the  traffic  in 
mineral  oil  was  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
under  the  control  of  State  or  municipal 
authorities,  but  in  many  respects  the  re- 
strictions were  far  less  stringent  than 
those  proposed  by  the  Bill  of  1883. 
There  is  no  doubb  much  to  be  said  in 
favor  of  the  contention  that  the  storage 
of  mineral  oils  in  large  quantities  should 
take  place  only  under  specified  condi- 
tions, so  that  in  the  event  of  a  fire  occur- 
ring, outflow  of  burning  oil  from  the 
premises  could  not  occur,  but  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  see  how  legislation  to  give  effect 
to  this  view  could  fairly  and  justifiably 


146 

be  advocated  unless  it  took  the  shape 
of  a  comprehensive  measure  embracing 
other  inflammable  liquids. 

We  have  now  dealt  with  that  which  is 
the  most  important  of  all  the  tests  ap- 
plied to  petroleum  products,  since,  as  we 
have  seen,  legislative  enactments  framed 
in  the  interest  of  public  safety  are  based 
upon  it.  There  are,  however,  many 
commercial  tests  worthy  of  attention. 

The  color  of  petroleum  oil  is  deter- 
mined in  this  country  (as  regards  oil 
for  export),  in  England,  in  Germany,  and 
in  Russia  (in  the  case  of  oil  for  export), 
by  the  use  of  a  chromometer  patented  by 
Mr.  B.  P.  Wilson,  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee of  the  Petroleum  Association  of 
London,  in  ]870.  This  instrument  is 
fitted  with  two  parallel  tubes  furnished 
with  glass  caps,  and  at  the  lower  end  of 
the  tubes  is  a  small  mirror,  by  means  of 
which  light  can  be  reflected  upwards 
through  the  tubes  into  an  eye- piece. 
One  of  the  tubes  is  completely  filled  with 
the  oil  to  be  tested,  and  beneath  the 
other  tube,  which  remains  empty,  is 


147 

placed  a  disk  of  stained  glass  of  standard 
color.  On  adjusting  the  mirror  and 
looking  into  the  eye-piece,  the  circular 
field  is  seen  to  be  divided  down  the 
center,  each  half  being  colored  to  an  ex- 
tent corresponding  with  the  tint  of  the 
oil  and  of  the  glass  standard  respectively. 
An  accurate  comparison  of  the  two  colors 
can  thus  be  made.  The  glass  disks, 
which  for  the  English  trade  are  of  five 
shades  of  color,  termed — good  merchant- 
able, standard  white,  prime  white,  super- 
fine white,  and  water  white,  are  issued 
by  the  Petroleum  Association  of  London, 
and  the  instruments  are  all  precisely  sim- 
ilar in  construction  ;  thus  the  testing  of 
color,  wherever  these  chromometers  are 
used,  is  placed  upon  a  uniform  basis. 

A  German  modification  of  the  instru- 
ment (devised  by  Stammer),  is  provided 
with  an  arrangement  for  shortening  the 
column  of  oil,  and  thus  obtaining  an 
exact  match  with  the  standard.  The  ex- 
tent of  shortening  being  indicated  on  the 
scale,  the  color  of  the  oil  can  be  recorded 


148 

in  terms  of  the  standard  with  considera- 
ble precision. 

Both  fire  test  and  flashing  point  of 
lubricating  oils  are  determined  by  testing 
the  oil  in  an  open  cup.  There  is  no 
generally,  or  at  any  rate  universally, 
accepted  method  of  applying  these  tests, 
and  important  discrepancies  between  the 
results  of  different  operators  frequently 
occur.  These  discrepancies  chiefly  arise 
from  variations  in  the  rate  of  heatiDg  the 
oil.  Pen  sky,  of  Berlin,  constructs  a 
closed  cup  apparatus  for  testing  lubrica- 
ting oils,  which  in  principle  resembles  the 
Abel  instrument.  As,  however,  the  trade 
are  accustomed  to  judge  of  the  volatility  of 
lubricating  oils  by  their  open  vessel  flash- 
ing points  or  their  fire  tests,  the  closed  cup 
cannot  usually  be  employed.  The  method 
of  heating  the  oil  adopted  by  Pensky,  which 
consists  in  placing  the  oil  cup  in  an  air 
chamber  in  a  cast-iron  vessel  which  can 
be  strongly  heated,  is  a  convenient  one, 
and  on  using  the  Pensky  apparatus 
without  the  oil-cup  cover,  and  adjust- 
ing the  Bunsen  burner  flame,  which  is 


149 

used  as  a  source  of  beat,  so  that  the 
temperature  of  the  oil  is  raised  at  the 
rate  of  about  10°  per  minute,  there  are 
obtained  concordant  flashing  points 
and  fire  tests,  which  agree  with 
those  furnished  by  the  method  of 
testing  usually  adopted  in  America. 
A  gas  flame  not  more  than  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  in  diameter,  produced  by  the 
use  of  a  small  jet,  is  a  good  test  flame 
to  use. 

The  so-called  "cold  test  "of  lubrica- 
ting oils  is  the  temperature  at  which  the 
oils  either  become  cloudy  or  cease  to  flow 
through  crystallization  of  parafifine.  The 
test  is  usually  applied  by  slowly  cooling 
a  sample  of  the  oil  in  a  tube  about  If 
inches  in  diameter,  and  noting  the  tem- 
perature at  which  on  inclining  the  tube 
the  oil  no  longer  flows,  or  that  at  which 
separation  of  paraffine  commences. 

The  viscosity  of  mineral  lubricating 
oils  is  a  feature  which  is  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  their  lubricating  properties. 
The  subject  has  been  dealt  with  somewhat 
fully  in  a  paper  read  at  a  meeting  of  the 


150 

Society  of  Chemical  Industry  by  the 
author,*  and  the  apparatus  commonly  em- 
ployed in  testing  consists  of  an  arrange- 
ment for  noting  the  length  of  time  occu- 
pied by  a  given  quantity  of  the  oil  in 
flowing  through  a  small  orifice  of  given 
dimensions  and  form  at  a  given  temper- 
ature. 

Paraffine  scale,  or  partially  refined 
paraffine  wax,  usually  contains  oil,  and 
sometimes  water.  The  percentage  of  oil 
is  determined  by  subjecting  a  weighed 
quantity  of  the  material  to  a  given 
pressure  at  a  given  temperature  for 
a  specified  time,  and  noting  the  loss 
in  weight.  The  author  published  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  In- 
dustry, in  August,  1884,  the  particulars 
of  the  method  of  testing  which  he 
employs,  and  gave  comparative  results 
obtained  under  various  pressures,  with 
various  lengths  of  exposure  to  the  press- 
ure at  various  temperatures,  and  with 
various  quantities  of  material.  The  experi- 

*  Published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Chemical 
Industry,  on  the  29th  of  March,  1886. 


151 

ments  showed  that  differences  of  tempera- 
ture affect  the  results  far  more  thai]  differ- 
ences in  pressure  and  in  the  quantity  of 
material  do.  This  is  not  surprising  when 
we  consider  that  there  is  no  actual  line 
of  demarkation  between  the  solid  and 
liquid  hydrocarbons  obtained  from  petro- 
leum. It  is,  however,  important  that  the 
same  pressure  should  always  be  employ- 
ed, and  accordingly,  some  years  ago 
a  press  was  constructed  which  indicates 
the  amount  of  pressure  by  the  extent  of 
deflection  (magnified  by  levers)  of  the 
steel  cross  head.  The  test  is  made  at 
60°  F.,  the  temperature  of  the  press 
plates  being  indicated  by  thermometers 
placed  in  mercury  cups ;  the  quantity  of 
material  employed  is  500  grains,  the 
pressure  is  9  tons  over  the  whole  surface 
of  the  circular  press  cake,  5f  inches  in 
'  diameter,  and  this  pressure  is  maintained 
for  five  minutes,  the  oil  expressed  being 
absorbed  by  blotting  paper.  The  author 
recently  had  a  press  constructed  in  the 
United  States  for  use  in  testing,  which  is 
furnished  with  a  long,  heavily- weighted 


152 

lever  in  place  of  the  spring  cross-head. 
With  this  press  similarly  concordant 
results  were  obtained,  and  the  ob- 
jection to  a  spring,  that  it  may  become 
weaker  through  use,  does  not,  of  course, 
attach  to  the  weighted  lever  method  of 
indicating  pressure.  Mr.  McCutchon,  of 
Young's  Paraffine  Oil  Company,  con- 
structed a  testing  press  in  which  coiled 
steel  springs  were  substituted  for  the 
elastic  cross-head,  and  this  press  has  been 
adopted  by  the  Scottish  Mineral  Oil 
Association.  Mr.  William  Walls,  of 
Glasgow,  recommends  the  use  of  a 
hydraulic  press,  and  Messrs.  Clarkson 
&Beckitt,  of  Glasgow,  a  few  months  ago, 
constructed  a  well-made  press  of  this 
nature.  A  hydraulic  press  is  portable, 
occupies  less  space  than  a  screw  press, 
and  admits  of  a  specific  pressure  being 
applied  with  ease  and  certainty.  This  • 
press  acted  promptly  even  after  being 
out  of  use  many  clays.  Under  a  great 
pressure  the  scale  is  liable  in  some  cases 
to  be  squeezed  out  of  the  cloth,  and  the 
quantity  of  oil  expressed  is  not  mate- 


153 

rially  increased.  Thus,  in  some  compara- 
tive experiments  conducted  at  various 
pressures,  all  the  other  conditions  being 
alike,  the  author  obtained  the  following 
results : — 

PRESSURE    ON   WHOLE    CAKE. 

9  tons  13.3  tons  20  tons 

Sample.         oil.  oil.  oil. 

A. . .  2.9  per  cent. .  3  1  per  cent,  .not  taken. 
B...14.8        "      ..14.4*      "      ..not  taken. 
C...  2.5        "      ..not  taken.      .  .2.9  per  cent. 
D. ..  5.5        "      ..not  taken.      .  .6.1 

Water  in  paraffine  scale  is  usually  de- 
termined by  heating  a  weighed  sample  to 
a  temperature  somewhat  above  the  boil- 
ing point  of  water,  and  maintaining  it  at 
that  temperature  until  it  ceases  to  lose 
weight. 

The  so-called  <fc  melting  point "  of 
paraffine  is,  in  the  case  of  the  recognized 
American  and  English  methods  of  mak- 
ing the  test,  the  temperature  at  which 
the  sample,  after  having  been  melted, 
and  while  in  the  process  of  cooling, 

*  Temperature  slightly  lower. 


154 

begins  to  solidify.  The  American  test  is 
conducted  by  melting  sufficient  of  the 
samples  to  three  parts  to  fill  a  hemispheri- 
cal dish  3J  in.  in  diameter.  A  thermome- 
ter with  a  round  bulb  is  suspended  in 
the  fluid  so  that  the  bulb  is  only  three- 
fourths  immersed,  and  the  material  being 
allowed  to  cool  slowly,  the  temperature 
is  noted  at  which  the  first  indication  of 
filming  extending  from  the  sides  of  the 
vessel  to  the  thermometer  bulb  occurs. 
The  English  test  is  made  by  melting  the 
sample  in  a  test  tube,  about  three-quar- 
ters of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  stirring 
it  with  a  thermometer  as  it  cools,  until  a 
temperature  is  reached  at  which  the 
crystallization  of  the  material  produces 
enough  heat  to  arrest  the  cooling,  and 
the  mercury  remains  stationary  for  a 
short  time.  The  results  afforded  by  this 
test  are  usually  from  2£°  to  3°  F.  lower 
than  those  furnished  by  the  American 
test.  The  melting  point  is  also  some- 
times determined  by  observing  the  tem- 
perature at  which  a  minute  quantity  of 
the  sample,  previously  fused  into  a  capil- 


155 


lary  tube  and  allowed  to  set,  becomes 
transparent  when  the  tube  is  slowly 
warmed  in  a  beaker  of  water. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

By  far  the  most  important  of  the  uses 
to  which  the  products  of  petroleum  are 
as  yet  applied  is  that  of  illumination, 
and  it  is  to  this  use  that  we  should  ac- 
cordingly direct  our  attention.  In  re- 
gard to  the  employment  of  the  solid  pro- 
ducts of  petroleum  in  the  form  of  par- 
affine  candles  not  much  need  be  said. 
Liebig  in  1851  expressed  the  opinion  that 
"it  would  certainly  be  esteemed  one  of 
the  greatest  discoveries  of  the  age  if  any 
one  could  succeed  in  condensing  coal-gas 
into  a  white,  dry,  solid,  odorless  sub- 
stance, portable,  and  capable  of  bting 
placed  upon  a  candlestick  or  burned  in  a 
lamp,"  and  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  in  the 
paraffine  candle  we  have  a  source  of  light 
possessing  all  the  characteristics  which 


156 

Liebig  considered  so  desirable.  Price's 
Patent  Candle  Company  and  Messrs.  J.  C. 
and  J.  Field  are  well  known  to  have  been 
conspicuously  successful  in  their  efforts 
to  improve  the  manufacture  of  paraffine 
candles,  the  introduction  of  the  "  self- 
fitting  "  end,  and  the  adoption  of  various 
devices  to  render  the  candle  more  orna- 
mental. 

The  principal  defect  possessed  by  par- 
affine candles  is  a  liability  to  bend  when 
exposed  to  the  air  of  a  warm  room.  This 
tendency  is  to  some  extent  overcome  by 
mixing  the  paraffine  with  a  small  percent- 
age of  palmitic  or  stearic  acid,  and  it  is 
found  that  candles  made  of  this  mixture 
are  also  less  liable  to  smoke  than  those 
made  from  pure  paraffine.  Ozokerite 
candles  have  a  higher  melting  point  than 
those  which  are  made  of  petroleum  or 
shale  paraffine,  and  are  in  this  respect 
better  suited  for  use  in  warm  climates. 

Young's  Paraffine  Light  and  Mineral 
Oil  Company  have  made  an  ingenious  use 
of  soft  paraffine  in  the  handy  little  miners' 
lamp. 


157 

There  probably  is  no  exhaustive  ac- 
count of  the  various  improvements  which, 
from  time  to  time,  have  been  effected  in 
appliances  for  burning  mineral  oils  with 
a  view  to  the  production  of  light ;  and 
in  the  attempt  to  compile  a  reccord  hav- 
ing any  pretensions  to  completeness,  great 
difficulties  may  be  anticipated. 

We  know,  from  the  accounts  given  by 
historians  who  wrote  prior  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Christian  era,  that 
petroleum  was  used  as  an  illuminant  in 
remote  ages.  The  appliances  for  burn- 
ing the  oil,  were,  without  doubt,  of  a 
very  primitive  description,  consisting 
simply  of  an  oil  vessel  furnished  with 
a  wick  of  some  fibrous  material.  Lamps 
of  this  character  are  still  used  for  burn- 
ing crude  petroleum  in  various  localities. 
The  earthen- ware  petroleum  lamp  of  some- 
what artistic  form,  but  very  primitive  con- 
struction, is  found  in  use  in  provincial 
Russia,  arid  little  glass  and  tin  lamps  are 
met  with  in  the  bazaars  in  India. 

For  the  lighting  of  the  derrick  during 
the  operation  of  well-drilling  in  the 


158 

United  States,  the  large  iron  two-spout- 
ed kettle-shaped  lamp,  fed  with  crude 
petroleum,  is  still  commonly  employed. 
With  none  of  these  lamps  is  a  chimney 
used,  and  the  flame  produced  is  dull  and 
smoky. 

Much  interesting  and  valuable  infor- 
mation in  reference  to  the  subject  of 
mineral  oil  lamps  was  given  by  Sir  Fred- 
erick Abel  in  a  lecture  delivered  at  the 
Royal  Institution  last  year.  The  lec- 
turer expressed  the  belief  that  min- 
eral oil  lamps  were  first  constructed 
in  Germany,  about  the  years  1852-3, 
and  somewhat  extensive  inquiries  made 
since  quite  confirm  this  view.  Miny 
years  previously,  however,  viz.,  in  1820, 
coal-naphtha,  produced  under  Lord  Dun- 
donald's  patent  of  1781,  was  introduced 
as  an  illuminant  by  Mr.  Astley,  for  use  in 
the  so-called  founder's  blast  lamp,  in 
which  the  combustion  was  aided  by  a 
current  of  air  artificially  produced,  Read 
Holliday  was  also  among  the  first  to  sug- 
gest the  employment  of  coal  naphtha  for 
illuminating  purposes,  and  the  vapor 


159 

lamp  which  he  patented  is  still  largely 
employed. 

Other  inventors  designed  lamps  for 
vaporizing  coal-naphtha,  and  burning  the 
vapor  at  a  jet.  Various  ingenious 
arrangements  for  maintaining  a  uniform 
oil  level  were  also  devised  during  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  18th  century.  These 
arrangements,  many  of  which  were  des- 
cribed by  Mr.  Leopold  Field  in  his  Can- 
tor lectures  on  "  Solid  and  Liquid  Illumi- 
nating Agents,"  delivered  in  1883,  were 
applied  to  lamps  burning  fixed  oils  ;  but 
some  are  of  special  interest  to  us  as  being 
applicable  to  mineral  oil  lamps.  Thus 
the  fc*  bird-fountain  ''  system  of  maintain- 
ing the  oil  level,  which  is  stated  to  have 
been  first  adopted  by  Miles  in  1781,  is 
applied  in  one  class  of  petroleum  lamps 
now  in  use.  This  arrangement  consists 
of  an  oil  reservoir  closed  at  the  top,  and 
communicating  by  a  tube  with  the  wick 
case  of  the  burner,  which  is  at  a  lower 
level  than  the  top  of  the  reservoir.  As 
the  oil  in  the  wick  case  is  drawn  up  to 
the  flame  and  consumed,  a  few  bubbles 


160 

•  of  air  pass  into  the  reservoir,  and  a  cor- 
responding quantity  of  oil  flows  out.  The 
principle  of  pumping  the  oil  np  to  the 
flame,  which  was  devised  by  Carcel  in 
1708,  is  also  at  present  in  use  in  burning 
mineral  oils,  chiefly  for  lighthouse  illu- 
mination, but  also,  to  a  small  extent,  for 
domestic  lighting. 

The  first  lamps  in  which  mineral  oils 
were  burned  in  this  country  with  any 
degree  of  success  were  those  which  had 
been  designed  some  years  previously  for 
use  with  rectified  oil  of  turpentine, 
known  as  "camphine."  These  lamps 
were  constructed  upon  the  principles  de- 
scribed by  Ami  Argand  in  the  specifica- 
tion of  the  patent  granted  to  him  in  1784, 
and,  in  view  of  its  great  value,  it  wiy.  be 
interesting  to  consider  the  nature  of  Ar- 
gand's  invention.  The  specification 
states  that  the  patent  is  for  "  a  lamp  that 
is  so  constructed  as  to  produce  neither 
smoak  nor  smell,  and  to  give  consider- 
ably more  light  than  any  lamp  hitherto 
known  ;  "  and  the  method  by  which  these 
results  are  obtained  is  thus  described : — 


161 


"  My  method  of  giving  light  by  lamps 
or  any  other  illuminating  instruments  or 
things,  consists  in  wholly  converting  into 
flame  and  light  any  inflammable  and  com- 
bustible  matter  whatever  that  may  be 
used  as  the  pabulum,  fuel,  or  subject  of 
such  light,  which  in  the  common  mode  of 
producing  light  is  only  in  part  burnt, 
consumed,  and  converted  into  flame,  the 
rest  going  off  in  smoak  or  soot.  This 
is  effected  in  its  various  modes  of  appli- 
cation, first,  by  causing  a  current  of  air  to 
pass  through  the  inside  of  the  flame  ;  sec- 
ondly, by  increasing  that  current  of  air 
and  producing  another  current  of  air  on 
the  outside  of  the  flame  by  means  of  a 
chimney,  dome,  funnel,  tube,  pipe,  or 
other  contrivance,  covering,  surrounding 
or  enclosing  the  flame,  or  the  vehicle,  or 
the  receptacle  or  vessel  containing  it,  so 
that  the  fresh  air  which  continually  rushes 
into  the  said  chimney,  dome,  funnel,  tube, 
or  pipe,  or  passes  through  it  to  supply 
the  place  of  that  which  is  decomposed 
and  rarefied  by  fire  or  flame,  and  which, 
growing  lighter,  escapes  continually 


162 

through  the  top  of  the  said  chimney, 
dome,  funnel,  tube  or  pipe,  shall  have  free 
access  and  circulation ;  or  thirdly,  by 
applying  such  chimney,  dome,  funnel, 
tube,  or  pipe  to  common  wicks,  where 
the  full  effects  of  the  principle  are  not  re- 
quired.* <  This  effect  of  increasing  the 
light,  by  converting  the  smoakinto  flame, 
is  obtained  by  the  means  above  mentioned, 
which  may  be  -used  either  separately,  or, 
where  a  greater  advantage  is  required,  the 
methods  above  described  may  be  com- 
bined. The  vehicles  which  contain  the 
light  are  made  of  various  forms  and 
various  materials.'' 

The  Argand  lamp,  to  quote  a  descrip- 
tion of  it  published  many  years  ago, 
"  embraces  so  many  improvements  upon 
the  common  lamp,  and  has  become  so 
general  throughout  Europe,  that  it  may  be 
justly  ranked  amongst  the  greatest  dis- 
coveries of  the  age.  As  a  substitute  for  the 
candle,  it  has  the  advantage  of  great 
economy  and  convenience,  with  much 

*  It  is  stated  that  the  use  of  a  chimney  had  been 
previously  suggested  by  Quinquet. 


163 

greater  brilliancy  ;  and  for  the  purpose 
of  producing  heat  it  is  an  important  in- 
strument in  the  hands  of  a  chemist.  We 
may,  with  some  propriety,  compare  the 
common  lamp  and  the  candle  to  fire 
made  in  the  open  air,  without  any  forced 
method  of  supplying  it  with  oxygen ; 
while  the  Argand  lamp  may  be  compared 
to  a  fire  in  a  furnace,  in  which  a  rapid 
supply  of  oxygen  is  furnished  by  the 
velocity  of  the  ascending  current.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  only  advantage  of  this 
valuable  invention.  It  is  obvious  that  .if 
the  combustible  vapor  occupies  a  consid- 
erable area,  the  oxygen  of  the  atmos- 
phere cannot  combine  with  the  vapor  in 
the  middle  part  of  the  ascending 
column.  The  outside,  therefore,  is 
the  only  part  which  enters  into 
combustion ;  the  middle  constituting 
smoke.  This  evil  is  obviated  in  the  Ar- 
gand lamp,  by  directing  a  current  of 
atmospheric  air  through  the  flame,  which, 
instead  of  being  raised  from  a  solid  wick, 
is  produced  by  a  circular  one,  which  sur- 
rounds the  tube  through  which  the  air 


164 

ascends."  Argand's  original  lamp  had  an 
iron  chimney,  but  a  cylinder  of  glass  was 
soon  substituted.  Smethurst,  or  Lange, 
afterwards  proposed  the  employment  of 
a  chimney  with  a  shoulder  or  constriction 
in  place  of  the  simple  cylinder. 

In  ]818  Sir  Thomas  Cochrane  obtained 
a  patent  "  for  lamps  in  streets,  which  ef- 
fectuate and  regulate  the  combustion  of 
a  certain  purified  essential  oil  or  spirit 
obtained  from  different  ligneous,  carbon- 
aceous, or  bituminous  substances  usually 
called  spirit  of  tar,  or  oil  of  tar."  The 
principal  feature  of  the  invention  seems 
to  have  been  the  construction  of  the 
"  burner  or  wick- holder  of  a  length  pro- 
portioned to  the  volatility  of  the  said 
essential  oil  or  spirit  compared  to  that  of 
the  viscous  oil  of  whales,  or  of  other 
gross  and  sluggish  oils  now  in  use."  In 
1822  A.  and  D.  Gordon  patented  the 
construction  of  lamps  with  wicks  made 
of  platinum,  gold,  silver,  or  copper  drawn 
into  fine  threads,  or  of  glass  drawn  into 
capillary  tubes,  bound  into  a  compact 
bundle  ;  also  the  use  with  such  wicks  of 


165 

a  burning  fluid  composed  of  spirit  of 
wine  or  wood  spirit  mixed  with  essential 
oils.  In  1839  Goldsworthy  Gurney  and 
Frederick  Rixon  obtained  a  patent  for 
the  4*oleo-oxygen  or  Bude  light,  produced 
by  administering  to  the  flame  of  oil  or  gas 
lamps  or  burners  a  jet  or  stream  of  pure 
oxygen."  In  1840  George  Halpin,  Jr., 
patented  the  application  of  a  mechani- 
cally produced  air  blast  to  an  Argand 
burner,  and  described  the  use  of  "  an 
additional  tube  placed  within  that  usually 
forming  the  inner  casing  of  an  Arg.tnd 
lamp."  The  drawings  accompanying  the 
specification  also  show  the  construction 
of  a  burner  with  three  concentric  wicks. 
In  the  same  year  Thomas  Young,  of 
Queen  Street,  London,  obtained  protec- 
tion for  improved  methods  of  supplying 
the  oil  to  the  burner,  and  for  the  use  of 
a  perforated  plate  "  at  a  position  above 
the  point  of  combustion  of  the  wick  of 
lamps,  and  thereby  obtaining  a  more 
favorable  application  of  air  to  the  flame 
of  lamps."  A  year  later  a  patent  was 
granted  to  William  Newton  for  "  lamps, 


166 

burners,  and  apparatus  for  the  produc- 
tion of  light  and  heal  for  domestic  and 
other  useful  and  ornamental  purposes, 
partly  from  certain  substances  which 
have  not  yet  been  brought  into  general 
use  for  such  purposes  and  by  such  means, 
some  of  the  said  substances  being  the 
hydrocarbons  usually  called  coal-tar,  oils 
or  liquids,  naphtha,  vegetable  tar,  oils  or 
liquids,  and  the  liquids  obtained  by  dis- 
tillation and  rectification  of  the  resins, 
schistus,  petroleum,  maltha  or  mineral 
pitch,  mineral  naphtha,  asphaltum,  bitu- 
men, caoutchouc,  animal  oil  and  the 
various  hydrocarbonaceous  substances 
that  may  be  extracted  from  vegetables, 
grain,  plants,  and  trees,  arid  most  of  the 
inflammable  oleaginous  or  resinous  sub- 
stances that  are  both  to  be  vaporized 
at  certain  temperatures,  according  as 
they  may  vary  in  nature  and  specific 
gravity."  The  burners  in  respect 
of  which  the  use  of  this  remarkably 
comprehensive  list  of  burning  fluids 
was  claimed,  were  provided  with 
various  complicated  arrangements  for 


167 

supplying  the  fluid  to  the  wick,  and  in 
some  cases  for  causing  the  vaporization 
of  the  fluid  before  its  ignition.  In  the 
same  year  (1841)  William  Young  filed  a 
lengthy  specification  of  improvements  in 
lamps,  part  of  which  related  to  arrange- 
ments for  burning  "  naphtha  or  turpen- 
tine spirit."  William  Young's  lamp, 
which  was  of  the  Argand  type,  was  at  first 
used  with  rectified  oil  of  turpentine, 
known  as  camphine,  but  on  the  intro- 
duction of  coal  oil  as  an  illuminating 
agent,  Young's  "  Vesta "  lamps  were 
used  to  burn  it.  In  one  form  of  this 
lamp  two,  three,  or  more  flat  wicks  were 
so  held  in  curved  wick  holders  as  to  pro- 
duce a  tubular  flame,  and  air  was  admit- 
ted to  the  inner  surface  of  the  flame  be- 
tween the  wick  tubes.  A  collar  of  wood 
was  inserted  between  the  burner  and  the 
oil  reservoir,  to  prevent  the  conduction  of 
heat  to  the  latter. 

In  1842  George  Eoberts,  a  miner,  was 
granted  a  patent,  part  of  which  related 
to  improvements  in  lamps  for  burning 
"  naphtha,  turpentine,  or  such  spirits  as 


168 

are  usually  burned  'n  lamps."  The  lamp 
described  in  the  specification  as  suitable 
for  use  with  naphtha  or  other  spirits  was 
of  the  Argand  form,  the  essential  feature 
of  the  invention  b^ing  the  use  of  as  many 
as  four  perforated  disk  air  deflectors,  so 
arranged  as  to  "  deflect  air  on  to  the  wick, 
and  also  on  to  and  all  around  the  flame 
after  it  is  formed,  such  deflection  of  the  air 
being  at  intervals  apart,  consequently  the 
air  will  be  deflected  on  to  the  flame  at 
different  heights,  the  air  being  prevented 
passing  into  the  upper  part  of  the  chim- 
ney except  with  the  flame.''  The  patentee 
states  that  "  by  combining  the  use  of  the 
four  disks,  as  above  described,  a  lamp,  such 
as  above  described,  may  be  made  suitable 
for  burning  naphtha  and  other  spirits, 
without  smoke,  producing  a  very  power- 
ful light.''  This  early  recognition  of  the 
important  principle  of  distributing  the  air 
supply  is  of  considerable  interest.  Three 
years  later,  viz.,  in  1845,  the  same  invent- 
or obtained  protection  for,  among  other 
improvements  in  the  construction  of 
lamps,  the  use,  in  the  center  of  an  Ar- 


169 

gand  wick  tube,  of  "  a  flat  disk  of  metal, 
to  the  outer  edge  of  which  a  curved  piece 
of  perforated  metal  is  attached,  thus 
forming  a  cap  through  which  the  air  will 
pass  in  small  streams  to  the  flame ;"  also 
for  the  similar  use  of  a  trumpet-mouthed 
deflector  receiving  air  through  a  hollow 
rod,  the  top  of  the  deflector  being  closed 
with  a  flat  disk,  and  the  sides  perforated. 
Air  diffusers  of  similar  construction  form 
important  features  of  mineral  oil  lamps 
patented  later.  Mr.  Roberts  also  specified 
the  use  of  wicks  of  cane  or  porous  wood, 
or  of  asbestos.  Samuel  King's  patent  of 
1856  relates  chiefly  to  arrangements  for 
providing  in  a  suitable  manner  a  supply 
of  air  to  the  flame  of  an  Argand  burner. 
An  additional  patent  for  further  improve- 
ments in  the  arrangements  for  the  distri- 
bution of  the  air  was  taken  out  by  King  in 
1859.  A  patent  for  a  chimney  less  burn- 
er (flat  wick)  was  granted  to  George 
Young  in  1867. 

N.  J.  Fenner  is  authority  for  the  state- 
ment that  a  distiller  of  the  name  of  Baker, 
carrying  on  business  on  Bow  Common, 


170 

was  probably  the  first  to  introduce  recti- 
fied oil  of  turpentine  as  an  illuminating 
agent  under  the  name  of  camphine.  This 
was  somewhere  about  the  year  1835.  The 
manufacture  of  camphine  was  subsequent- 
ly, according  to  Mr.  Fenner,  carried  on 
by  Messrs.  Jupp,  C.  Price  and  Co.,  P. 
Murphy,  Flockton,  Garton,  and  Fenner, 
all  of  whom  were  turpentine  and  resin 
distillers,  the  wet  steam  process  of  recti- 
fication being  generally  employed.  In 
consequence  of  the  high  price  of  colza 
and  fish  oils,  camphine  had  at  this  time 
a  large  sale  as  an  illuminant,  notwith- 
standing its  liability  to  fill  the  room  with 
"  blacks  "  and  its  many  other  defects.  In 
1856  Mr.  Chappel,  a  solicitor,  consulted 
Messrs.  Fenner  as  to  commercially  utiliz- 
ing an  asphaltum  imported  from  Cuba, 
and  experiments  having  shown  that  the 
material  yielded  75  per  cent,  of  crude  oil 
from  which  good  burning  and  lubricating 
oils  could  be  made,  a  company  was  formed 
and  the  process  carried  on  successfully 
for  some  time,  the  oil  selling  at  3s.  7d.  to 
3s.  8d.  per  gallon.  Before  long,  how- 


171 

ever,  the  introduction  of  the  cheaper 
American  petroleum  rendered  the  indus- 
try unprofitable. 

The  products  at  first  manufactured  by 
James  Young  were  not  well  adapted  for 
illuminating  purposes,  attention  having 
been  concentrated  upon  the  manufacture 
of  lubricating  oils ;  but  in  1853  the  in- 
creasing consumption  of  the  burning  oil, 
which,  for  three  or  four  years  previously 
had  been  manufactured  in  Hamburg,  by 
Noblee,  led  Mr.  Young  to  make  inquiries 
which  resulted  in  his  finding  that  suit- 
able burners  were  being  constructed  by 
Mr.  C.  H.  Stobwasser,  of  Berlin.  Mr. 
Young  then  obtained  some  of  the  burners 
in  question,  and  entrusted  to  Messrs.  R. 
Laidlaw  and  Son,  of  Edinburgh,  the  man- 
ufacture of  similar  appliances.  The 
earliest  of  these  is  on  the  Argand  princi- 
ple, with  an  annular  wick  case,  and  is 
called  a  "solar-oil  lamp,"  while  those  made 
subsequently  for  burning  petroleum  have 
flat  wick  tubes. 

Stobwasser  &  Co.  first  made  the  solar-oil 
(Argand)  burners,  and  the  flat  wick  burn- 


172 

ers  about  1852  or  1853.  The  solar-oil  burn- 
er was  constructed  for  use  with  the  liquid 
termed  "pbotogene/'  made  by  Noblee 
from  coal,  while  the  flat  wick  burner  was 
used  with  the  oil  distilled  from  lignite. 
The  solar-oil  at  first  manufactured  would 
not  burn  in  the  flat  wick  burners,  as 
originally  constructed,  but  a  slight  alter- 
ation of  the  burner,  and  an  improvement 
in  the  quality  of  the  oil,  overcame  the 
difficulty. 

Gesner  states  that  the  first  lamps  suit- 
able for  burning  kerosene  that  were  em- 
ployed in  America,  were  imported  from 
Vienna  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Austen,  who,  about 
the  year  1854,  was  engaged  in  the  coal 
oil  industry.  According  to  Dr.  Schweit- 
zer, Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri,  the  coal  oil  manu- 
factured about  this  time  was  of  such  com- 
paratively high  density  that  it  could 
be  burned  in  ordinary  lamps.  The  sub- 
sequent development  of  the  petroleum  in- 
dustry, however,  rendered  it  very  neces- 
sary to  devise  special  lamps.  The  first 
patent  taken  out  for  a  petroleum  lamp, 


173 

so-called,  in  the  United  States,  was  dated 
1859,  and  in  that  year  forty  applications 
for  patents  for  petroleum  lamps,  burners 
and  appliances  in  general  were  granted. 
In  the  succeeding  year  the  number  of 
similar  grants  was  71,  in  the  next  year 
53,  and  in  the  one  after  101.  From  that 
time  to  1878  the  number  ranged  from  63 
to  186  ;  and  judging  by  the  number  of 
new  kinds  of  lamps  which  are  offered  for 
sale  every  year  in  America,  the  energy  of 
the  American  inventor  shows  no  signs  of 
diminution. 

Meanwhile,  in  England,  the  improve- 
ment of  appliances  for  burning  mineral 
oils  was  steadily  progressing.  Messrs. 
Joseph  Hinks  &  Son,  of  Birmingham, 
who  had  commenced  business  as  lamp 
manufacturers  about  the  year  1860, 
patented  October  28,  1865,  the  well- 
known  duplex  burner,*  the  introduction 
of  which  has  done  so  much  to  popularize 
the  use  of  mineral  oils  for  illuminating 
purposes.  The  patent  which  was  granted 

*  Dr.  Angus  Smith  had  previously  constructed  a 
two  wick  burner. 


174 

to  James  and  Joseph  Hinks  was  described 
as  being  for  "  the  improvements  herein- 
after described  in  the  burners  of  lamps 
for  burning  paraffine  oil  and  other  vola- 
tile liquid  hydrocarbons,  whereby  two  or 
more  flat  flames,  or  one  circular,  or  nearly 
circular  flame,  may  be  produced  by  the  use 
of  two  or  more  single  flat  wicks."  The 
general  construction  of  the  burner  was 
thus  described : — 'fcOur  invention  consists 
in  the  employment  in  the  same  burner  of 
two  or  more  flat  or  curved  wick  cases  or 
holders,  in  which  said  cases  or  holders 
single  flat  wicks  are  placed.  Each  of  the 
said  wick  cases  is  provided  with  an  axis 
and  pinions  for  raising  and  lowering  the 
wick  therein  contained.  The  wick  cases 
or  holders  are  either  straight  or  slightly 
curved,  or  of  the  figure  of  semi-ellipses, 
or  semi-circular,  so  as  to  produce,  when 
arranged  in  the  burner,  flat,  or  elliptical, 
or  circular  flames.  The  cone  or  deflector 
has  two  or  more  straight  or  curved  open- 
ings in  it,  through  which  the  wicks  may 
pass.  That  portion  of  the  top  of 
the  cone  between  the  curved  open- 


175 

ings  (when  curved  openings  and  curved 
wick  holders  are  employed)  serves  as  a 
substitute  for  the  ordinary  button  used 
with  circular  wicks  ;  or  a  circular  hole 
may  be  used  in  the  cone,  and  the  ordi- 
nary button  employed.  When  flat  wick 
cases  are  employed,  straight  openings  are 
made  in  the  cone."  In  the  original  form 
of  the  flat-wick  burner  the  two  wicks 
were  brought  together  into  one  wick 
tube  in  the  lower  part  of  the  burner. 
Subsequent  improvements  effected  by 
this  firm  have  resulted  in  the  production 
of  a  burner,  the  good  features  of  which 
are  too  well  known  to  need  enumeration ; 
and  their  conspicuous  merit,  from  an 
artistic  as  well  as  mechanical  point  of  view, 
is  apparent.  In  1871,  Holver  Holver- 
stone,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  patented  a 
dual  burner,  having  two  flat  wicks  in 
a  cone  furnished  with  a  single  slot.  Lit- 
igation between  this  inventor  and  Messrs. 
Hinks  resulted  in  an  amicable  arrange- 
ment. 

On  January  22d,  1886,  Messrs.  Thomas 
Rowatt  &  Sons  patented  the  "anucapnic" 


176 

burner,  which  differs  from  those  already 
referred  to  in  being  provided  with  a 
double  cone.  The  use  of  this  appliance 
admits  of  the  ordinary  chimney  being  re- 
placed by  a  globe,  without  any  diminu- 
tion in  the  brilliancy  of  the  light.  The 
provisional  specification,  filed  by  Thomas 
Kowatt,  the  younger,  states  that  his 
"improvements  in  lamps  for  burning 
paraffine,  petroleum,  belmontine,  and 
other  hydrocarbon  oils  without  the  use 
of  a  chimney,"  consists  in  obtaining  "the 
necessary  current  of  air  by  carrying  down 
a  tube  of  metal  or  any  other  suitable 
material  from  the  dome  to  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  bottom  of  the  burner,  ex- 
tending its  lower  rim  laterally,  so  that 
the  opening  remaining  between  the  edge 
of  this  rim  and  the  lower  body  of  the 
burner  becomes  an  air  channel  with  a 
much  greater  superficial  area  than  the 
area  of  the  bottom  neck  of  the  tube,  con- 
sequently the  tube  becomes  an  air- sluice 
when  the  lamp  is  lighted/'  The  specifi- 
cation further  states  that  in  order  that 
complete  combustion  might  be  effected, 


177 

it  was  found  that  a  second  current  of  air 
must  be  projected  on  to  the  flame  above 
the  dome  referred  to.  The  arrangement 
is  therefore  described  in  the  complete 
specification  as  consisting  of  "  two  round- 
topped  hollow  cones  or  domes,  one  ex- 
terior and  the  other  interior,  both  being 
so  arranged  as  to  produce  two  separate 
and  distinct  currents  of  air.J'  Messrs. 
Thomas  Bo  watt  &  Sons  patented  an  im- 
proved anucapnic  burner  in  1878,  and  in 
1882  obtained  protection  for  a  duplex 
chimneyless  burner  with  single-slotted 
double  dome,  which  they  term  the 
"Lome"  burner.  In  the  latter  burner 
the  wick  tubes  are  inclined  towards  each 
other  at  the  top  and  bottom,  so  that  the 
flames  coalesce,  and  the  wicks  beneath 
the  burner  are  in  contact.  Increased 
luminosity  and  increased  capillary  attrac- 
tion result.  This  firm  was  the  first  to 
construct  burners  with  a  screw  to  attach 
them  to  the  collar  of  the  lamp,  the  burn- 
ers previously  made  in  this  country  being 
provided  simply  with  a  conical  tube  fit- 
ting into  the  collar. 


178 

Young's  Paraffin  e  Light  and  Mineral 
Oil  Company,  some  years  ago,  com- 
menced the  manufacture  of  lamps  on  a 
large  scale,  and  have  introduced  several 
burners  of  novel  and  valuable  character. 
Among  these  are  the  "Champion"  burn- 
er, with  circular  wick,  the  "Regulator" 
burner,  and  the  "  Triplex  "  burner,  which 
is  furnished  with  three  flat  wicks  arranged 
triangularly.  The  "  Champion  "  burner 
was  patented  by  A.  E.  Ragg,  in  1876  and 
1880.  The  claims  in  the  specification  of 
the  former  patent  are  for  the  use  of  a 
ceniral  perforated  cone  or  tubular  cham- 
ber within  the  wick-tube  circle,  for  sup- 
plying the  upper  portion  of  the  flame 
with  a  series  of  small  separate  injected 
currents  ;  for  the  use  of  a  series  of  rays 
or  divisions  projecting  from  or  approach- 
ing close  to  the  wick-tube  or  tubes,  "  so 
as  to  separate  the  impinging  current  of 
air  into  a  series  of  currents  separated  by 
quiescent  intervals,  thus  causing  serra- 
tions in  the  flame  ;"  for  the  mode  of  "pre- 
venting smoke  in  lamps  by  adjusting  the 
cap  to  that  height  abo  -j  the  surface  of 


179 

the  wick,  that  on  the  cap  being  placed  in 
position  the  flame  changes  from  yellow  to 
white ;"  and  for  the  use  of  two  flat  wicks 
in  an  Argand  burner,  in  such  a  manner 
that  they  are  brought  to  a  cylindrical 
contour  at  the  top.  In  the  specification 
of  the  subsequent  patent  the  claims  are 
for  the  use  of  a  disk  or  button  (either 
alone  or  in  conjunction  with  a  perforated 
tube),  of  such  size  as  to  extend  over  the 
entire  area  embraced  by  the  inner  wick 
tube,  and  the  greater  portion  or  whole  of 
the  wick,  "  so  as  to  deflect  the  flame  out- 
wards to  a  much  greater  extent  than 
heretofore,  and  at  the  same  time  to  cause 
the  central  current  of  air  to  be  deflected 
into  the  flame  above  the  wick  with  a  cor- 
respondingly greater  force."  Under  this 
patent,  improvements  in  the  construction 
and  fitting  of  the  air  chamber  and  gal- 
lery, and  an  arrangement  for  regulating 
the  level  of  the  oil,  are  also  claimed  as 
novelties.  The  patent  for  Ragg's  "  regu- 
lator" burner,  dated  24th  October,  1878, 
is  based  upon  his  other  patent  of  the 
same  year  (drted  3d  June)  already  re- 


180 

f erred  to.  A  considerable  portion  of  the 
specification  relates  to  improvements  in 
the  method  of  constructing  the  wick 
tubes  so  as  to  admit  of  the  use  of  two 
flat  wicks  as  described.  One  claim  is, 
however,  for  the  "  regulator,"  which  con- 
sists of  a  cap  attached  to  the  cone,  and 
so  formed  that  it  covers  up  a  portion  of 
the  wick,  and  excludes  it  from  the  action 
of  the  flame,  "It  is  preferred  that  the 
portion  of  the  wick  covered  up  shall  be 
the  extreme  ends."  The  inventor  states 
that  this  addition  to  the  burner  regulates 
the  height  to  which  the  wick  may  be 
turned  up,  and  thus  prevents  it  from 
being  turned  up  high  enough  to  cause 
the  throwing  off  of  smoke  or  unconsumed 
carbon,  and  insures  a  uniform  and  per- 
fect trimming  of  the  wick.  The  uncon- 
sumed portion  of  the  wick  protected  by 
the  "  regulator  "  is  also  said  to  act  as  a 
feeder  to  the  flame,  so  that  in  the  use  of 
the  lighter  oils  the  flame  is  maintained  of 
full  size  for  a  greater  length  of  time, 
while  oils  too  heavy  for  use  in  lamps  of 
the  usual  construction  are  caused  to  burn 


181 

satisfactorily.  An  additional  claim  is  for 
a  chimneyless  flat-wick  burner,  provided 
with  a  shallow  trough  placed  above  the 
wick-tube, 'and  with  the  bottom  cut  away 
over  the  wick.  This  trough  becomes 
heated,  and  is  stated  to  deflect  the  air 
currents  so  as  to  produce  a  broad  flame. 
The  "  Triplex "  burner  was  patented  by 
Doty,  in  1876,  the  claims  being  for  the 
arrangement  of  three  flat  wicks  triangu- 
larly ;  for  the  "  flaring  "  or  outward  in- 
clination of  the  wick- tubes ;  and  for  the 
construction  of  the  cap  with  three  inter- 
secting hemispheres. 

Mr.  A.  M.  Silber  is  well  known  to  have 
devoted  a  large  amount  of  time  and  at- 
tention to  the  improvement  of  mineral 
oil  burners,  and  has  published  the  results 
of  his  efforts  in  an  instructive  paper  read 
before  the  Society  of  Arts  in  1870.  The  ex- 
cellent results  obtained  with  the  Silber 
burner,  which  is  of  the  round,  or  Argand 
form,  are  due  largely  to  the  use  of  an 
inner  tube  so  constructed  and  placed  as 
to  direct  a  current  of  air  on  to  the  inner 
surface  of  the  flame  at  a  point  some  dis- 


182 

tance  above  its  base.  Professor  Barff 
has  stated  that  the  prismatic  spectrum  of 
the  light  emitted  by  this  burner  is  nearly 
identical  with  that  of  the  solar  ray  ;  it 
should,  therefore,  allow  nearly  all  shades 
of  color  to  be  distinguished  as  in  day- 
light.* The  Silber  burner  with  central 
tube  was  patented  in  April,  1873,  and  the 
claim  specified  is  for  "the  improved 
burner  hereinbefore  described,  in  which 
there  are  one  or  more  air-tubes  receiving 
atmospheric  air  through  apertures  in 
their  sides  or  peripheries  at  the  lower 
part  thereof,  substantially  as  described." 
Two  years  previously  Mr.  Silber  patented 
a  lamp  provided  with  an  annular  air- 
space passing  vertically  through  the  body 
of  the  lamp  between  the  wick  chamber 
and  the  oil  reservoir.  Oil  was  supplied 
to  the  wick  through  several  small  tubes 
connecting  the  base  of  the  oil  reservoir 
with  the  wick  case,  and  thus  the  main 
body  of  the  oil  was  kept  cool,  while  the 

*  This  remark  would,  no  doubt,  be  equally  applica- 
ble to  the  light  given  by  other  mineral  oil  lamps  of 
modern  construction. 


183 

small  quantity  supplied  to  the  wick  be- 
came considerably  heated. 

The  lamp  which  has  been  recently' in- 
troduced by  Messrs.  J.  Defries  &  Sons, 
has  several  valuable  characteristic  fea- 
tures. It  is  on  the  Argand  principle, 
and  is  the  invention  of  Mr.  Sepul- 
chre. The  air  passes  to  the  interior 
of  the  flame  through  the  base  of  the 
lamp,  and  the  wick  is  contained  in  an  an- 
nular space  formed  by  the  air- tube  (which 
passes  completely  through  the  oil  reser- 
voir) and  an  outer  tube  attached  to  the 
burner  collar.  The  latter  tube  reaches 
nearly  to  the  bottom  of  the  oil  reservoir, 
and,  being  slightly  longer  than  the  wick, 
is  always  sealed  by  the  oil.  Thus  the 
passage  of  flame  from  the  burner  to  the 
air  space  of  the  oil  reservoir  is  prevented, 
and  the  oil  cannot  flow  out  in  the  event 
of  the  lamp  being  overturned. 

The  "Lampe  Beige"  has  a  similarly 
placed  central  air-tube,  but  is  not  pro- 
vided with  the  long  outer  wick- tube. 
The  "  Excelsior "  lamp  bas  an  Argand 
burner  with  two  flat  wicks,  which,  meet- 


184 

ing  in  the  wick  case,  furnish  a  tubular 
flame.  The  wicks  are  fixed  in  wick-hold- 
ers sliding  in  the  wick-tube,  and  are 
raised  or  lowered  by  a  rack  and  pinion. 

The  "  Waterbury  "  lamp  has  an  Argand 
burner  provided  with  an  ingenious  ar- 
rangement for  facilitating  the  insertion  of 
the  wick,  and  with  an  equally  ingeniously 
contrived  extinguisher,  to  which  I  must 
again  refer.  The  "  Star  "  lamp  is  also  on 
the  Argand  principle,  and  has  the  annu- 
lar air-space,  surrounding  the  wick  tube 
and  passing  through  the  oil  reservoir, 
already  described  as  '  having  been  pat- 
ented by  Mr.  Silber  several  years  ago. 
It  is  an  objection  to  lamps  so  con- 
structed that  the  oil  creeps  over  the 
upper  edge  of  the  wick-tube,  and  it  has 
accordingly  been  found  necessary  to  pro- 
vide a  drip- cup  in  the  base  of  the  lamp. 
A  later  form  of  the  "Star"  lamp  manu- 
factured by  Holmes,  Booth,  &  Hayden 
Co.,  New  York,  has  a  good  extinguisher. 
One  of  the  Argand  burners  (patented  by 
J.  Funck  in  1882)  has  a  long  inner  wick- 
tube,  extending  almost  to  the  bottom  of 


185 

the  cylinder,  which  serves  as  an  outer 
wick-case.  The  wick  is  held  in  another 
long  tube  of  thin  metal,  to  which  is  at- 
tached a  stud  working  in  a  spiral  groove 
made  in  the  fourth  tube  extending  down- 
wards from  the  collar  which  supports 
the  cone.  The  tube  which  holds  the 
wick  is  revolved  by  a  pinion  working  in 
teeth  cut  in  the  lower  edge  of  the  cone ; 
and  through  the  action  of  the  spiral 
groove,  the  wick  is  thus  raised  or  low- 
ered. Of  the  various  flat-wick  burners 
the  "  Sun  hinge  "  is  so  made  that,  without 
removing  the  chimney,  the  cone  can  be 
raised  like  the  hinged  lid  of  a  box,  for 
trimming  the  wick  or  lighting.  Another, 
the  "Manhattan,"  an  exceedingly  good 
burner,  giving  a  tall,  well- shaped  flame,  is 
provided  with  two  cones.  The  principal 
general  features  of  the  American  flat- wick 
burners  are  the  comparative  thinness  of 
the  metal  of  which  they  are  constructed, 
and  the  shortness  of  the  wick  tubes. 

Both  in  this  country  and  in  England 
flat-wick  burners  have  hitherto  been  far 
more  largely  used  than  Argand  or  round 


186 

burners.  On  the  European  continent,  on 
the  other  hand,  flat-wick  burners  are 
rarely  employed.  The  very  commonest 
form  of  German  round  burner  is  that 
which  is  known  as  the  "Cosmos." 
This  burner  has  neither  the  additional 
inner  tube  nor  the  button,  and  accord- 
ingly it  is  necessary  to  use  with  it  a 
chimney  much  constricted  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  base.  Better  results, 
"  especially  with  the  larger  sizes,  are  ob- 
tained with  the  improved  burners  sup- 
plied by  Messrs.  C.  H.  Stobwasser  &  Co., 
Messrs.  AVild  &  Wessel,  and  Messrs. 
Schuster  &  Baer,  under  the  names  of  the 
" Victoria,"  the  " Phoenix,"  the  "Moon," 
the  " Helios,"  and  the  u  Solar-oil"  burn- 
ers. These  improved  burners  differ  from 
the  old  form  of  "  Cosmos  "  burner  prin- 
cipally in  being  provided  with  an  air  tube 
within  the  inner  wick  tube,  or  with  a 
button  to  deflect  the  inner  air  current. 

The  Eussian  burners  differ  only  in 
details  of  construction  from  those  al- 
ready described.  One  of  the  Argand 
burners  and  the  flat -wick  burner  are  in- 


187 

tended  for  use  with  the  heavier  oils.  The 
latter  burner  has  a  short  but  capacious 
wick  tube,  and  takes  a  wick  of  unusual 
thickness.  The  former  burner  has  a 
slightly  conical  chimney  held  in  position 
by  a  metal  collar  fitting  over  its  base. 
In  1884,  the  Committee  of  the  Russian 
Chemical  and  Physical  Society  awarded 
to  Kumberg  the  premium  which  had 
been  offered  for  a  lamp  suited  to  Cau- 
casian oils  of  specific  gravity  .865  to 
.875. 

In  the  construction  of  all  mineral  oil 
lamps,  the  principal  points  aimed  at  are 
the  production  of  a  current  of  air  passing 
into  the  burner  with  suitable  velocity ; 
and  the  direction  of  this  air  current  on  to 
the  flame  in  a  manner  best  adapted  to 
secure  the  proper  combustion  of  the  oil. 
The  heated  chimney  or  other  arrange- 
ment induces  the  required  flow  of  air,  but 
if  in  the  case  of  an  Argand  lamp  the 
chimney  be  cylindrical  and  the  burner 
merely  two  tubes  to  hold  the  wick,  the 
air  would  not  do  what  is  required  of  it, 
and  the  lamp  would  burn  with  a  flame  of 


188 

comparatively  little  luminosity.  In  the 
simplest  forms  of  flat  wick  burners  the 
metallic  dome  which  surrounds  the  top 
of  the  wick  tube  serves  to  cause  the  air 
current  to  impinge  upon  the  flame,  the 
base  of  the  burner  being  fitted  with  a 
disk  of  perforated  metal  to  moderate  the 
velocity  of  the  current.  In  the  best 
round  burners  the  result  is  attained  by 
the  use  of  a  metallic  disk  or  other  contri- 
vance, sometimes  in  conjunction  with  a 
cone  surrounding  the  wick  tube ;  or  as  in 
the  Silber  lamp,  and  other  lamps,  by  the 
use,  in  addition  to  the  cone,  of  an  inner 
air  tube  of  suitable  size  and  form.  The 
"  air  diffuser "  of  the  Defries  lamp 
(Sepulchre's  patent)  may  be  described  as 
a  combination  of  the  button  and  a  per- 
forated tube  closed  at  the  top,  while  the 
air  diffuser  of  the  "  Rochester  "  lamp  and 
of  Young's  " Champion"  burner  consists 
of  a  cylinder  closed  at  the  top  and  with 
perforated  walls.  The  action  of  the 
button  or  tube  is  aided  by  the  employ- 
ment of  a  chimney  formed  with  a 
shoulder,  and  if  the  chimney  be  con- 


189 

stricted  just  above  the  top  of  the  burner, 
the  use  of  the  button  or  tube  may  in  fact 
be  dispensed  with.  The  upper  part  of 
the  Bayle  chimney  is  in  the  form  of  a 
truncated  cone,  the  chimney  practically 
consisting  of  two  cones  united  at  their 
smaller  ends.  It  is  claimed  that  the  em- 
ployment of  this  form  of  chimney  causes 
the  outer  air  current,  entering  between 
the  glass  and  the  wick  tube  of  an  Argand 
burner,  to  pass  upwards  with  the  same 
velocity  as  that  of  the  inner  current  which 
supplies  the  center  of  the  flame  with  air. 
The  use  of  the  double  cone  of  the  anu- 
capnic  lamp  as  a  substitute  for  the  chim- 
ney, has  been  referred  to.  Lamps  are 
made  in  wLnbh  the  air  current  is  supplied 
by  a  revolving  fan,  driven  by  clockwork 
in  the  base  of  the  lamp  ;  this  method  of 
construction  being  illustrated  in  the  lamp 
made  by  Messrs.  Gardners.  Martin 
Rae,  in  1861,  patented  the  use  of  a  small 
lamp  in  the  base  of  the  lamp  proper  to 
create  a  current  of  air,  the  use  of  a  flame 
"of  the  size  of  a  common  pea"  being,  he 
states  in  his  specification,  "  sufficient  to 


190 

rarefy  the  air  of  a  lamp  with  a  flame  of 
two  inches  square.'' 

The  ''blast  lamp/'  patented  by  Robert 
Lavender  in  1875,  and  introduced  by 
Young's  Paraffine  Oil  Company  for  use 
in  illuminating  large  spaces  in  the  open 
air,  was  provided  with  an  arrangement 
for  introducing  a  jet  of  steam  into  the 
chimney,  on  the  principle  of  the  "blast" 
employed  in  loc jmotives,  and  thus  pro- 
ducing a  strong  upward  current  of  air, 
suitable  for  the  combustion  of  the  heavier 
mineral  oils. 

In  the  case  of  Argand  oil  burners,  it 
may  be  said  that  there  are  four  principal 
points  at  which  the  air  currents  impinge 
upon  the  flame.  Thus  as  regards  the 
interior  surface  of  the  flame,  the  current 
of  the  air  first  comes  into  contact  with 
the  base  of  the  flame,  while  a  portion  is, 
by  the  use  of  a  deflector  or  central  tube, 
or  other  contrivance,  caused  to  strike  the 
flame  at  a  higher  point.  Similarly  as  re- 
gards the  outer  surface  of  the  flame  a 
portion  of  the  air  current  meets  the  flame 
at  its  base,  and  another  portion  comes 


191 

into  contact  with  the  flame  surface  higher 
up.  As  we  shall  presently  see,  when 
considering  the  subject  of  lighthouse 
illumination,  Sir  James  Douglass's  min- 
eral oil  burner  has  a  cone  provided  with 
three  openings  for  air,  at  gradually  in- 
creasing heights  from  the  base,  and  the 
air  is  thus  supplied  to  the  exterior  of  the 
flame  in  comparatively  small  quantities  at 
different  elevations. 

Scarcely  less  important  than  the  produc- 
tion and  direction  of  the  air  current  is  the 
maintenance  of  a  proper  supply  of  oil  to  the 
flame.  With  most  mineral  oil  lamps  this 
is  effected  through  the  unaided  capillary 
attraction  of  the  wick,  and  it  is  obvious 
that  the  quality  of  the  wick  is  a  point 
of  great  importance.  In  the  student  or 
reading  lamp  the  action  of  the  wick  is 
aided  by  maintaining  a  constant  level  of 
oil  on  the  principle  of  the  bird  fountain 
already  mentioned.  The  principle  of  the 
"  Moderator  "  lamp  is  also  sometimes  ap- 
plied to  lamps  for  domestic  use,  as  in  the 
Peigniet-Changeur  lamp  shown  at  the 
International  Health  Exhibition,  the  oil 


192 

pumped  up  being,  however,  allowed  to 
overflow  at  a  lower  level  in  the  wick  tube 
than  in  the  case  of  colza  oil.  Mr.  Silber 
has  proposed  to  lay  on  a  supply  of  oil  to 
the  various  burners  throughout  a  dwell- 
ing house  from  a  reservoir  on  each  floor, 
kept  filled  from  a  storage  tank,  the  sup- 
ply being  regulated  by  the  use  of  ball 
valves.  Peter  Brash  and  William  Young 
patented  a  similar  arrangement  in  1867, 
and  Mr.  D.  C.  Defries  has  recently 
patented  a  method  of  arriving  at  the 
same  result.  Messrs.  Hinks  some  years 
ago  manufactured  a  lamp  in  which  the 
oil  container  from  which  the  wick  drew 
its  supply  could  be  caused  to  descend 
into  a  well  or  reservoir  forming  the  base 
of  the  Limp,  and  could  thus  be  refilled. 
In  some  lamps  the  action  of  the  wick 
proper  is  aided  by  the  provision  of  a 
"wick  feeder,"  consisting  of  a  thick  and 
loosely  woven  wick  attached  to  the  under 
surface  of  the  burner,  in  contact  with 
the  wick  proper,  and  dipping  into  the 
oil. 

The  wick  is  usually  raised  or  lowered  in 


193 

the  wick  case  by  the  action  of  toothed 
wheels  pressing  lightly  against  it,  the 
revolution  of  the  wheels  being  effected 
by  turning  a  button  on  the  end  of  a 
spindle  which  carries  them.  In  some  in- 
stances, however,  the  wick  is  held  -in  a 
tube,  or  frame,  which  is  raised  or  lowered 
by  a  rack  and  pinion,  or  by  a  worm  cut 
on  the  burner  tube,  and  actuated  by  re- 
volving the  burner,  or,  as  in  the  "Roches- 
ter" lamp,  by  means  of  a  vertical  rod 
attached  to  the  wick  frame.  The  flame 
has  always  hitherto  been  produced  from 
the  extremity  of  the  wick,  but  an  arrange- 
ment for  presenting  a  fold  of  a  continu- 
ous flat  wick  as  the  burning  surface  was 
shown  in  the  International  Inventions 
Exhibition.  The  burner  thus  fitted  was 
provided  with  a  device  for  causing  the 
wick  to  travel  through  the  burner  so  that 
a  fresh  portion  of  wick  could  be  exposed 
when  desired. 

The  wicks  at  first  employed  in  lamps 
for  burning  fixed  oils  were  of  the  nature 
of  a  loosely  woven  cord  or  solid  cylinder. 
In  1773,  Leger  used  a  flat  wick,  and  a 


194 

few  years  later  Argand  adopted  a  tubular 
wick.  Ditmar  and  others  have  used  two 
wicks ;  one  to  bring  the  oil  up  to  the 
burner,  and  the  other  to  burn  it.  With 
a  large  number  of  the  round  burners  of 
the  present  day,  a  flat  wick  of  such 
breadth  that  the  edges  meet  in  the  annu- 
lar wick  space  is  employed,  and  in  some 
instances  two  flat  wicks  are  similarly 
used.  The  "Mitrailleuse"  burner  is, 
however,  furnished  with  a  number  of 
solid  cylindrical  wicks,  arranged  in  a 
circle,  and  held  in  a  frame,  which  is 
raised  or  lowered  by  a  rack  and  pinion. 
Messrs.  Browne  &  Co.,  and  Mr.  Ret- 
tich,  manufacture  this  form  of  burner. 
The  Rettich  "Mitrailleuse"  burner  has 
an  air  deflector  of  improved  form. 
The  "  Sirius ''  burner,  patented  by  Mor- 
rison &  Smith,  and  one  form  of  the 
"  Mirtin  "  burner,  are  provided  with  two 
concentric  wicks  ;  but  compound  Argand 
burners  are,  for  the  most  part,  used  only 
for  lighthouse  illumination. 

Considerable  attention  has   for    some 
years  been  paid  to  the  construction   of 


195 

wicks  in  the  United  States.  The  various 
operations,  in  the  order  in  which  the 
cotton  is  subjected  to  them,  are  in  the 
United  States  termed: — (1)  opening; 
(2)  lapping ;  (3)  carding ;  (4)  railway 
drawing ;  (5)  doubling  and  first  drawing ; 
(6)  doubling  and  second  drawing ;  (7) 
slubbing  and  roving;  (8)  speedy  roving; 
(9)  spinning;  (10)  twisting,  which  makes 
the  yarns  ready  for  the  looms. 

It  is  important  to  dry  the  wick  before 
it  is  used,  and  wicks  are  frequently  found 
to  have  absorbed  from  4  to  6  per  cent,  of 
their  weight  of  moisture,  and  to  the  ex- 
tent to  which  this  moisture  is  present, 
the  capillary  attraction  of  the  wick  when 
used  in  the  lamp  is  impaired.  The  fol- 
lowing results  of  experiments  which  have 
been  made  with  wicks  of  various  qualities 
in  common  use,  clearly  indicate  the  im- 
portance of  employing  a  wick  of  good 
quality.  The  figures  indicate  the  relative 
quantities  of  a  given  oil  of  good  quality 
drawn  through  wicks  of  the  same  width, 
by  capillary  attraction  in  a  given  time  : 


196 

Wick  of  best  quality 198 

Wick  of  medium  quality 100 

Wick  of  inferior  quality 76 

The  extent  to  which  the  behavior  of 
the  lamp  is  affected  by  the  quality  of  the 
wick,  especially  with  oils  that  do  not  flow 
very  freely  under  the  influence  of  capilla- 
ry attraction,  is  strikingly  shown  by  the 
following  results  which  the  author  ob- 
tained under  otherwise  similar  condi- 
tions : 

Wick  of 

Wick  of  best    ordinary 
quality.         quality. 

Maximum  illuminating  "1  ^ 

power 10.43        9.99    £ 

Minimum    illuminating  |  ^ 

po WIT  after  six  hours* 

burning         ....:...  9.63        7.64  }• 

Average      illuminating  " 

power      during      six 

hours'  burning 10.14        8.99 

Diminution    in    illumi-  .  J 

n  at  ing     power,     per 

cent 7.6          23.5 

Oil  consumed  per  hour.          529          500    )   g 
Oil  consumed PLT candle 

light  per  hour 52.17        55.61)  5 

Many  of  the  complaints  of  unsatisfac- 
tory burning  quality  of  oil  have  undoubt- 
edly arisen  from  the  use  of  inferior  wicks. 


197 

As  an  illustration  of  the  ignorance  which 
frequently  prevails  as  to  the  importance 
of  using  a  good  wick,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  an  American,  engaged  in  the 
petroleum  trade,  being  unable  to  account 
for  the  reiterated  statements  of  a  custom- 
er that  the  oil  supplied  would  not  burn, 
caused  an  examination  to  be  made  of  the 
lamp  in  which  the  oil  was  used,  and  found 
that  the  wick  having  become  short  the 
complainant  had  ingeniously  lengthened 
it  by  attaching  with  two  pins  a  strip  torn 
from  an  old  flannel  garment.  This  ar- 
rangement appeared  to  have  answered 
the  purpose  fairly  well  until  one  of  the 
pins  fell  out  unperceived,  when  the  sur- 
faces of  contact  of  the  flannel  and  wick 
were  no  longer  sufficiently  large,  and  the 
lamp  having  ceased  to  burn,  the  oil  was 
hastily  assumed  to  be  in  fault. 

In  certain  cases,  however,  it  is  found 
that  a  wick  gives  satisfactory  results  for 
several  days  and  then  appears  to  become 
choked.  Even  in  such  cases,  however, 
the  use  of  a  sufficiently  good  wick  over- 
comes the  difficulty,  as  is  shown  in  the 


198 

following  tabular  statement  of  the  results 
of  some  experiments  made  two  years  ago. 
For  convenience  of  comparison  the  illu- 
minating power  is  expressed  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  experiment  as  100  in 
each  case : 

Wick  of 

Wick  of  be«t  ordinary 
quality.       quality. 

Maximum    illuminating    power 

when  the  wick  was  new 100  . .  100 

Maximum  illuminating  power 

after  the  wick  had  been  used 

for  a  total   of  21   hours  on  3 

successive  days —  . .  58.5 

Maximum  illuminating  power 

after  the  wick  had  been  used 

for  a  total  of  32^  hours  on  5 

successive  days —  . .  17.8 

Maximum  illuminating  power 

after  the  wick  had  been  used 

for  a  total  of   50  hours  on  7 

successive  days 93.8     . .      — 

Mr.  Nakamura  formed  the  opinion  that 
this  choking  results  from  the  deposition 
of  water  in  the  wick,  since  the  wick  re- 
covers its  capillary  power  on  drying. 
Among  those  who  have  experimentally 
investigated  the  subject  of  the  diminution 
in  illuminating  power  in  petroleum  lamps 
are  Colonel  Junker,  director  of  the  Test 


199 

Bureau  of  the  Bremen  Petroleum  Borse, 
Mr.  L.  Schmelk,  chemist  to  the  Norwe- 
gian Sea-lighting  establishment,  and  Dr. 
J.  Biel,  of  St.  Petersburg. 

While  on  the  subject  of  wick  manu- 
facture, it  may  be  pointed  out  that  it  is 
much  to  be  desired  that  lamp  manufactur- 
ers would  adopt  standard  gauges  for  the 
wick  tubes.  At  the  present  time  an  un- 
necessarily large  number  of  wicks,  vary- 
ing in  thickness  and  in  width  by  sixteenths 
of  an  inch,  have  to  be  made  and  kept  in 
stock,  and  since  the  nominal  widths  of  the 
wick  tubes  sometimes  differ  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  from  the  actual  widths, 
it  frequently  results  that  the  wick  sup- 
plied does  not  fit  the  tube  properly.  The 
wicks  in  use  in  England  with  miner- 
al oils  range  in  width  from  J  of  an 
inch  to  5  inches,  the  greatest  difference 
in  width  between  any  two  of  the  interme- 
diate sizes  being  ^  of  an  inch,  and  the 
difference  being  in  many  cases  as  little  as 
one-sixteenth  of  an  inch.  There  is  also 
considerable  variation  in  different  burn- 
ers in  regard  to  the  thickness  of  the  wick 


200 

the  holder  will  properly  take.  If  the 
wick  is  too  narrow,  the  tamp  will  not 
burn  well,  and  its  use  may  even  be 
dangerous.  If  the  wick  be  too  thin,  it  is 
deficient  in  capillary  attraction,  and  if 
too  thick  it  will  not  move  freely. 

Several  kinds  of  incombustible  wicks 
have  at  various  times  been  introduced. 
The  wick  patented  in  1876,  and  in  an 
improved  form  in  1877,  by  Hein- 
richs,  consists  of  a  lower  portion  of 
felt,  an  intermediate  portion  of  miner- 
al wool,  and  an  asbestos  top  or 
ring.  In  the  International  Inventions 
Exhibition  last  year,  a  lamp  with  an 
asbestos  wick  patented  by  Messrs.  Flatau 
and  Turner  was  shown.  One  of  the 
claims  in  the  patent  specification  relating 
to  this  lamp  is  for  the  division  of  the 
wick  horizontally  into  two  portions,  one 
of  which  can  be  moved  up  or  down  so  as 
to  be  put  into  or  out  of  contact  with  the 
other  portion.  The  inventors  appear  to 
prefer  that  the  upper  part  of  the  asbestos 
wick  should  be  a  fixture  in  the  wick  tube 
and  that  the  lower  part  should  be  moved 


201 

downwards  out  of  contact  with  the  upper 
part  when  it  is  desired  to  extinguish  the 
lamp. 

It  is  now  usual  to  fit  the  larger  burn- 
ers with  some  form  of  extinguishing  ap- 
paratus. The  earliest  attempt  to  fit  an 
extinguisher  was  probably  that  made 
in  the  case  of  the  improved  "Brigh- 
ton "  burner,  patented  in  18G2.  This 
burner  has  an  air  deflector  or  but- 
ton, the  stem  of  which  rests  upon  a 
pin  passing  horizontally  through  the 
burner.  On  withdrawing  the  pin,  the 
button  drops  on  the  wick  and  extinguish- 
es the  flame.  In  the  "  Wateubury  "  burn- 
er, the  dropping  of  the  button  is  also 
effected  by  drawing  out  a  pin,  but  the 
action  compresses  a  spring  and  the  but- 
ton resumes  it  normal  position  on  the  pin 
being  released.  The  button  extinguisher 
of  the  new  "  Star  "  lamp  is  brought  into 
action  by  depressing  a  thumb  plate,  and 
in  this  case  also  the  button  returns  to 
its  original  position  when  the  pressure  is 
removed.  The  u  Duplex  "  burners  of  Mr. 
James  Hinks  &  Son,  Messrs.  Wright  & 


202 

Butler,  and  others,  are  fitted  with  ingen- 
iously contrived  extinguishing  apparatus, 
which,  on  depressing  a  lever,  bring"  a  pair 
of  metallic  plates  into  contact  over  the 
top  of  each  wick  tube.  In  one  of  the 
"Duplex"  lamps  made  by  Messrs. 
Wright  &  Butler,  the  extinguisher  is 
automatically  brought  into  action  as  soon 
as  a  weighted  rod  suspended  beneath  the 
burner  passes  to  any  material  extent  out 
of  a  line  perpendicular  to  the  base  of  the 
lamp.  It  is  therefore  impossible  for  the 
lamp  to  become  tilted  when  falling  with- 
out the  flames  being  extinguished.  An 
automatic  extinguisher  has  also  been 
patented  by  Messrs.  King  &  Godfrey. 

Two  of  the  "  Duplex "  burners  and 
Kettich's  "  Mitrailleuse  "  burner  are  pro- 
vided with  mechanical  arrangements  for 
raising  the  gallery  carrying  the  chimney 
and  globe,  so  that  the  wicks  may  be  con- 
veniently lighted.  In  Wright  &  Butler's 
"  Duplex "  the  gallery  is  supported  on 
levers,  which,  on  turning  a  key,  not  only 
raise  the  chimney  and  globe,  but  also 
move  them  to  some  extent  horizontally. 


203 

In  Hinks'  "Duplex '*  the  movement  of 
the  gallery,  effected  by  turning  the  key,  is 
vertical  only.  In  Rettich's  '^Mitrailleuse" 
there  is  no  key  action,but  the  gallery  slides 
up  to  an  extent  sufficient  to  admit  of  in- 
serting a  lighted  taper. 

Messrs.  C.  H.  Stobwasser  &  Co.,  of 
Berlin,  have  recently  adopted  a  process 
for  preventing  the  oil  from  "creeping  " 
over  the  edge  of  the  burner  collar  and 
soiling  the  exterior  of  the  reservoir. 
The  process  consists  in  placing  in  the 
collar,  between  the  edge  of  the  reservoir 
and  the  plaster  of  Paris  which  is  used  to 
attach  the  collar,  a  layer  of  some  com- 
pound which  looks  like  a  mixture  of  gel- 
atine and  glycerine.  The  oil  will  pass 
through  the  plaster,  but  is  arrested 
by  the  compound  referred  to.  The  upper 
surface  of  the  collar  of  the  lamp  is  also 
made  slightly  conical,  and  at  its  inner 
and  lower  edge,  at  the  junction  between 
the  collar  and  the  burner,  a  small  hole 
communicating  with  the  oil  reservoir  is 
made.  Any  oil,  therefore,  which  drops 
from  the  burner  returns  to  the  reservoir. 


204 

On  the  pin  of  the  wick  winder  is  soldered 
a  small  star  shaped  wheel,  the  points  of 
which  are  over  the  conical  collar.  Oil 
passing  along  the  pin  is  stopped  by  the 
star  wheel,  and  drops  from  its  lowest 
point  on  to  the  collar. 

We  have  now  to  consider  the  principles 
of  construction  of  mineral  oil  lamps  in 
relation  to  the  question  of  safety.  It 
is  well  known  that  accidents  in  the  use 
of  mineral  oil  lamps  are,  unfortunately, 
of  by  no  means  rare  occurrence,  though 
the  number  bears  a  very  small  proportion 
to  that  of  the  lamps  in  use.  The  atten- 
tion of  authorities  and  experts  in  the 
United  States  has  long  since  been  direct- 
ed to  the  comparative  frequency  of  such 
accidents,  and  Dr.  Chandler,  of  New 
York,  as  long  ago  as  1871,  published  a 
report  of  a  lengthy  series  of  experiments 
which  he  had  undertaken  with  the  object 
of  ascertaining  the  conditions  under 
which  the  accidents  occurred.  It  seems, 
however,  to  have  been  somewhat  hastily 
assumed  that  the  accidents  were  the  re- 
sults of  explosions  of  the  mixture  of 


205 

petroleum  vapor  and  air  formed  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  oil  container, 
and  the  experiments  were  therefore 
chiefly  directed  to  ascertaining  the  rela- 
tion between  the  flashing  point  of  the  oil 
and  the  temperature  to  which  the  oil  was 
raised  when  burning  in  various  forms  of 
lamps.  Commenting  on  these  experi- 
ments, Mr.  Peckham  very  properly  points 
out  in  his  census  report  that,  although 
explosions  undoubtedly  sometimes  break 
lamps,  the  danger  arises  principally  from 
the  risk  of  overturning  and  breaking  the 
lamp. 

In  a  lecture,  delivered  at  the  Royal 
Institution  eleven  years  ago,  Sir  Fred- 
erick Abel  stated  that  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  accidents  arising  out  of  the 
use  of  mineral  oil  lamps  were  not  actually 
due  to  the  occurrence  of  explosions; 
and  in  a  subsequent  lecture  he  added, 
that  instances  might  be  quoted  in  which 
the  breaking  out  of  a  fire,  or  the  de- 
struction of  or  injury  to  life,  which  had 
evidently  been  caused  by  upsetting  or 
allowing  to  fall  a  mineral  oil  lamp,  had 


206 

been  erroneously  ascribed  to  an  explo- 
sion. There  are,  however,  as  Sir  F. 
Abel  said,  numerous  cases  of  accidents 
which  have  been  caused  by  explosions 
in  lamps,  followed  by  the  ignition  of  the  oil. 
The  experiments  which  have  been  made 
by  Sir  Frederick  Abel  and  the  author, 
with  the  valuable  aid  of  Dr.  W.  Kellner, 
Assistant  Chemist  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment, have  enabled  them  to  arrive  at 
several  definite  conclusions  with  respect 
to  the  immediate  causes  of  lamp  explo- 
sions, and  to  certain  circumstances  which 
may  tend  to  favor  the  production  of  such 
explosions.  These  conclusions  were  so 
clearly  set  forth  by  Sir  Frederick  Abel, 
which  is  here  quoted  verbatim: — 

"If  the  lamp  of  which  the  reservoir  is 
only  partly  full  of  oil,  be  carried  or 
rapidly  moved  from  one  place  to  another, 
so  as  to  ngitate  the  liquid,  a  mixture  of 
vapor  and  air  may  make  its  escape  from 
the  lamp  in  close  vicinity  to  the  flame, 
and,  by  becoming  ignited,  determine  the 
explosion  of  the  mixture  existing  in  the 
reservoir.  This  escape  may  occur  through 


207 

the  burner  itself,  if  the  wick  does  not  fit 
the  holder  properly,  or  through  openings 
which  exist  in  some  lamps  in  the  metal 
work,  close  to  the  burner,  of  sufficient 
size  to  allow  the  flame  to  pass  them 
readily.  A  sudden  cooling  of  the  lamp, 
by  its  exposure  to  a  draught,  or  by  its 
being  blown  upon,  may  give  rise  to  an 
inrush  of  air,  thereby  increasing  the  ex- 
plosive properties  of  the  mixture  of 
vapor  with  a  little  air  contained  in  the 
reservoir,  and  the  flame  of  the  lamp  may 
at  the  same  time  be  drawn  or  forced  into 
the  air-space  filled  with  that  mixture,  es- 
pecially if  the  flame  has  been  turned 
down,  as  the  latter  is  thereby  brought 
nearer  to  the  reservoir.  The  sudden 
cooling  of  the  glass,  if  it  had  become 
heated  by  the  burning  of  the  lamp,  may 
also  cause  it  to  crack  if  it  is  not  well  an- 
nealed, and  this  cracking,  or  fracture, 
which  may  allow  the  oil  to  escape,  may 
convey  the  idea  that  an  explosion  has 
taken  place.  If  the  evidently  common 
practice  is  resorted  to  of  blowing  down 
the  chimney  with  a  view  to  extinguish 


208 

the  lamp,  the  effects  above  indicated  as 
produceable  by  a  sudden  cooling  may  be 
combined  with  the  sudden  forcing  of  the 
flame  into  the  air  space,  and  an  explo- 
sion is  thus  pretty  certain  to  ensue,  es- 
pecially if  that  air  space  is  considerable. 
If  the  flashing  point  of  the  oil  used  be 
below  the  minimum  (73°  Abel)  fixed  by 
law,  and  even  if  it  be  about  that  point  or 
a  little  above  it,  vapor  will  be  given  off 
comparatively  freely  if  the  oil  in  the  lamp 
be  agitated,  by  carrying  the  latter,  or 
moving  it  carelessly ;  the  escape  of  a 
mixture  of  vapor  with  a  little  air  from  the 
lamp,  and  its  ignition,  will  take  place  more 
readily,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  will 
probably  be  feebly  explosive,  because  the 
air  will  have  been  expelled  in  great  meas- 
ure by  the  generation  of  petroleum  vapor. 
If  the  flashing  point  of  the  oil  be  high, 
the  vapor  will  be  less  readily  or  copiously 
produced,  under  the  conditions  above 
indicated,  but,  as  a  natural  consequence, 
the  mixture  of  vapor  and  air  existing  in 
the  lamp  may  be  more  violently  explosive, 
because  the  proportion  of  the  former  to 


209 

the  latter  is  likely  to  be  lower  and  nearer 
that  demanded  for  the  production  of  a 
powerfully  explosive  mixture.  If  the 
quantity  of  oil  in  the  lamp  reservoir  be 
but  small,  and  the  air-space  consequently 
large,  the  ignition  of  an  explosive  mixture 
produced  within  the  lamp  will  obviously 
exert  more  violent  effects  than  if  there 
be  only  space  for  a  small  quantity  of 
vapor  and  air,  because  of  the  lamp  being 
comparatively  full.  If  the  wick  be  low- 
ered very  much,  or  if  for  some  other 
reason  the  flame  becomes  very  low,  so 
that  it  is  burning  beneath  the  metal  work 
which  surrounds  and  projects  over  the 
wick  holder,  the  lamp  will  become  much 
heated  at  those  parts,  and  the  tendency 
to  the  production  of  an  explosive  mixture 
within  the  space  of  the  lamp  will  be  in- 
creased, while,  at  the  same  time,  heat 
will  be  transmitted  to  the  glass,  and  it 
will  be  correspondingly  more  susceptible 
to  the  effects  described  as  being  exerted 
by  its  sudden  exposure  to  a  draught. 
Experiments  have  demonstrated  that  a 
lamp  containing  an  oil  of  high  flashing 


210 

point  is  more  liable  to  become  heated 
than  if  it  contained  a  comparatively  light 
and  volatile  oil,  in  consequence  of  the 
much  higher  temperature  developed  by 
the  combustion,  and  of  the  comparative 
slowness  with  which  the  heavy  oil  is  con- 
veyed by  ih&  wick  to  the  flame.  It 
therefore  follows  that  safety  in  the  use 
of  mineral  oil  lamps  is  not  to  be  secured 
simply  by  the  employment  of  oils  of  very 
high  flashing  point  (or  low  volatility),  and 
that  the  use  of  very  heavy  oils  may  even 
give  rise  to  dangers  which  are  small,  if  not 
entirely  absent,  with  oils  of  comparatively 
low  flashing  points." 


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